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THB 



TEACHER'S INSTITUTE; 

OB, 

FAMILIAR HINTS 



TO 



YOUNG TEACHERS 



BY 

WILLIAM B. FOWLE. 



** Not as though 1 had attained, or were already perfect" 



FIRST NEW YORK EDITION. 



NEW YORK: 
PUBLISHED BY A. S. BARNES «fe Co., 

Ill & 113 WILLIAM STREET. 



1867 



^\4 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1866, by 

A. S. BARNES & Co., 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Ifnited States for the 

Southern District of New York. 



W lBBei«sf»r from 

Pat. •a«» Ub. 

A»rt 1814. 



PREFACE. 

Since the revival of education in Massachusetts, and, I may justly 
say, in the United States, in consequence of the establishment of our 
Board of Education, several valuable treatises on the important 
subject of Public Instruction have been published, and each in its 
way has done good service to the great cause ; but still, it seems to 
me, there is room for the little volume which, perhaps, with more 
zeal than discretion, I am about to " cast upon the waters." 

When I was invited by the Secretary of the Board of Education to 
take part in the instruction to be given at the Teachers' Institutes, 
which he proposed to hold in different parts of the State, I was not 
aware that my notions of the matter and manner of teaching were 
eo different from those which prevailed. When, however, at the 
Institutes, some of the lessons which I had given at leaet a quarter 
of a century ago were viewed as novelties, and listened to with 
attention as unexpected as it was gratifying, I readily yielded to the 
repeated suggestion that it might aid the cause of education to 
publish such of my hints as could be written out, however inferior 
they must necessarily be to the living lessons that I had given in 
person. 

Those lessons were all given without any book, and usually without 
any notes ; but this volume contains, I believe, a faithful sketch of 
them, with three of the many lectures that I delivered, and such 
additional remarks as occurred to me while the work was in progress. 
It makes no claim to be a complete treatise on education, for I had 
neither time nor inclination to attempt so high a task. It is no com- 
pilation, however, but a familiar record of my own experience, 
written in the midst of business, and with the printer at my heels, — 
two disadvantages which those only can fully appreciate who have 
been so incautious as to try a similar experiment. 

Teachers' Institutes are assemblies of teachers, convened for the 
purpose of receiving and imparting instruction in regard to the art of 
teaching. They are, in fact, temporary Normal Schools, although, 
of course, conducted with less eystem and less preparation. The 
duty of calling them devolved upon the Secretary of the Board of 
Education, and he was present several days at each of the ten that 
were held in the autumns of 1845 and 1846, of which duty an 
interesting report is given in his Ninth Annual Report to the Board. 
The exercises consisted mainly of lessons given by some experienced 
teacher ; of mutual instruction by the members of the Institute ; of 
free discussions, in which the citizens, especially school-committee- 
men, often took part ; and of lectures by gentlemen who had paid 
attention to the progress of public education in the State. Of course, 



IV PREFACE. 

as far as possible, teachers and lecturers on all systems, and on all 
educational subjects, were invited to teach and lecture, that the 
young teachers might see and hear all that was abroad, and be able 
to carry home many inventions that they would never, perhaps, have 
wrought out in their almost isolated districts. I spent a longer time 
than any other teacher at these Institutes, and probably said and did 
more than any other. I must, of course, have said many things 
about which there is a difference of opinion in this community, for I 
am accustomed to speak what I think, without asking whether the 
thought is popular or not. It is my duty, therefore, to declare, that 
neither the Board of Education, who honored me by the invitation, 
nor their Secretary, is accountable for any sentiments I uttered at 
the Institutes, and much less for any thing I have written in this 
volume. The truth of the matter is, that, until it was published, 
neither the Board nor its Secretary had any knowledge of the con- 
tents of this book, nor even of my intention to publish it. 



CONTENTS. 



Page 

Reading, 7 

Spelling, . . , 27 

Arithmetic, 45 

Mental Arithmetic, .... . 68 

Writing, 73 

Drawing, 82 

Lecture on Geography, 87 

Remarks on Geography, ... 102 

Lecture on the Uses and Abuses of Memory, 117 

English Grammar, 138 

Composition, 178 

Lecture on the Monitorial System, 185 

Remarks on the Use of Monitors, 208 

Neatness, 222 

The Opening and Closing of School, 227 

Music, 243 

Emulation and Discipline, 248 

Conclusion, 258 

1# 



BLACKBOARDS. 

In this volume, no set lesson on the use of 
blackboards is given, because the whole vol- 
ume, from beginning to end, is a practical 
lesson on the use of this indispensable part of 
school apparatus. 



THE TEACHERS' INSTITUTE. 



READING 



The first thing to be done is, in some way or other, to 
make the child acquainted with the Alphabet. Twenty years 
ago, there was but one way of doing this. The names of the 
letters were taught in connection with their forms, and as the 
teacher could only hear the child name the letters once or 
twice in the forenoon or afternoon, a task which occupied five 
or six minutes, the work was not usually accomplished in 
less than three months, and it not unfrequently required six. 

When we consider how little amusement there is in learn- 
ing the Alphabet in this way, we cannot help wondering at the 
patience of the little victims, and at the cruelty or awkward- 
ness of the teacher, who cannot or does not invent some 
method by which the entrance to the path of knowledge may 
be made less painful to the little travellers. 

We are by no mean« certain that there is a better way 
than to begin with teaching the names of the letters, but we 
are certain that this may be done in many ways that will 
engage the attention of the children, and be highly interesting 
to them. 

We have said that six months are sometimes consumed in 
teaching a child the Alphabet ; but this is a mistake, — the time 
is consumed in idleness, and not in teaching. If the child is 
allowed ten minutes a day, and this is more than the average 
allowance, the whole time allotted to a child in six months 
will be less than twenty-two hours, that is, less than one 
entire day. For, if the school is kept five days in a week, 
the number of hours devoted to the child in twenty-six weeks, 
or six months, will be only twenty-one hours and two thirds. 

My custom was to give the child what minutes I could 
spare, and then to employ some older child in giving as much 
practice as the child desired. The consequence was, that the 
Alphabet was learned in a few weeks at furthest, but not, as 



8 THE teachers' INSTITUTE. 

it is usually learned, by tiame only. Let me explain my 
method more in detail, and illustrate it by an anecdote. 

A year or two ago. I was unexpectedly detained in a village 
of Massachusetts, and knowing no person, I naturally wandered 
to the schoolhouse, where I am always sure to find a welcome. 
There were three schools in the building, and, by accident, I 
entered what was called the infant school. About sixty little 
children were present, and by no means idle, for it would be 
difficult to imagine a more busy scene. The teacher, a young 
lady of prepossessing appearance, was in one corner of the 
room, looking over the book of one of a small class, that was 
reading to her. The noise of the other children obliged her 
to place her ear close to the reader, and, of course, she could 
not properly overlook the rest of the school. Nothing that I 
had ever seen could equal the irregularities that I beheld, and 
had my life depended upon the effort, I could not have 
avoided laughing at the novel scene of fun and frolic before 
me. As soon as the teacher saw that a stranger was observ- 
ing her, she left her class, and came forward to meet me. 
She blushed, and was evidently embarrassed ; and I said to 
her, " You have a busy scene here." " Indeed I have," said 
she. " I never taught till yesterday, and I am so distracted 
that I must give up." I told her kindly that she was under- 
taking too much, for she should not attempt to teach until she 
had established something like order. " But the parents 
expect me to teach every child twice a day," said she, " and 
if I do not, I shall be censured. But," asked she, " how can 
I restore order amidst such confusion ? " "I should introduce 
some general exercise," said I, " that will interest them all." 
*' But the greater part of them do not know any thing," said 
she, " and how can they work together ? " "I will show you," 
said I, " if you will excuse the liberty I take." I then tapped 
a few times gently on the desk, and all were silent. I kept 
:n, and asked the children to tap as I did. They readily did so, 
and soon kept good time, and were highly pleased. Then said 
I, " Such of you as do not know the Alphabet, hold up your 
hands!" They did not know what I meant; but when I 
varied the question and said, " All who do not know the A, B, 
C, hold up your hands'" so many hands went up that it 
seemed as if some must have held up more than two. "Now," 
said I, " I wish all of you to go out, and stand before that 
large black-board." Sixteen or seventeen went out, and stood 
in that kind of confusion which Dr. Blair, I think, says is 



ilEADING. 9 

ratlier an element of the romantic than of the beautiful. I 
took the chalk and drew a large semi-circle in front of the 
board, drawing the chalk over such little feet as stood in the 
way, and when I told them to toe the chalk, there was such an 
eagerness to obey, that, for a minute or two, the whole class 
looked like a squad of adult recruits at their first drill. This 
movement attracted the attention of the rest of the pupils, and 
kept them still, so that the way was prepared for a lesson in 
the Alphabet. 

I then printed a capital A on the board, and asked, " Does 
any one know what letter this is ?" " A ! A ! A ! " said half 
a dozen of them. " Yes, that is the first letter," said I, " and 
its name is A. Now let all say A." " A ! A ! A ! " said they, 
in great confusion. " Now," said I, " say A all together, 
when I knock on the board." They did so ten or fifteen 
times. " Now," said I, " which of you can make an A like 
this on the board ? " "I can ! 1 can ! I can ! " said several. I 
gave the chalk to one of the largest, and she made an A thus : 
'* Very well," said I, " but does not your A turn 
up its toes more than mine does?" " Yes, sir," 
said she, and rubbed both feet out, and tried to 
make them better. " Is not one leg longer than 
the other ? " said 1. " 0, yes, sir ! " said she, and 
rubbed ofT a portion of it. " Very well," said I ; 
I see but one thing more. If you were sitting on that cross- 
bar," said I, " would not you slide down to one side ? " " Yes, 
sir," said she, and rubbing out the bar, she made another 
that sloped as much to the right. When I asked if she would 
not slide the other way, she tried again, and made the cross- 
bar nearly horizontal. 

" Very well, indeed ! " said I. " Now, cannot some one 
take the chalk and make another A as good as that?" Half 
a dozen came forward. I selected a little boy, who had never 
learned a letter before, and who was the smallest child in 
the class. He took the chalk and made a large A, strad- 
dling over the head of the other, thus : 
" Bravely done ! " said I ; " that is a fine 
great A, but he is too large for the little 
one to carry. Can't you make him stand 
by the side of the other ? " He gave me 
a knowing nod of assent, rubbed out the 
great one, and made another as I directed. I then called on 
every one of the class in turn to make an A, and not one 





10 THE teachers' INSTITUTE. 

failed to do so, and every time a new A was made, the whole 
class, at a signal given, called out, " A ! A ! A ! " several times. 

Then I proceeded to B ; but, just then, a friend, who was 
travelling in company with me, entered, and seeing that the 
time was short, and the teacher quick to apprehend, I gave 
over my lesson, and asked my friend to set the whole school 
a singing. This exercise, of which the first line of the 
Multiplication Table was the subject, suited them wonderfully, 
and was continued several minutes. After a little familiar 
talk with the teacher, who by this time was relieved, and 
emboldened to question us, we departed. It is but justice for 
me to add, that, several months afterwards, as I was passing 
through that village, 1 looked in upon my young friend, and 
found her in the midst of an orderly school, without any 
fear of being disobeyed or distracted. 

In teaching the alphabet, therefore, I should teach by 
classes, if more than one was ignorant of the letters, and I 
should require every letter to be made by every child. 1 
should keep alive the interest of the child or the class by 
talking about the letters, as if they were things or persons, 
and thus I would impress upon the mind of the child, not only 
the general form, but the peculiarities of every letter. Chil- 
dren taught in this way would never do what I have seen 
done by many teachers ; for, when I have attended Teachers* 
Institutes, which are conventions of teachers for mutual 
instruction, I have repeatedly asked each teacher to print an 
alphabet, and I have never failed to find some who formed 
the letters J, N, S, Z, thus, L , TI, Z , IS . In one Institute of 
a hundred teachers, seven turned all these letters, and some 
others, the wrong way. Had they taught the alphabet as I 
propose, they would have learned as well as the children. 

But I should not teach the whole alphabet before I began 
to use it. As soon as the child can make several letters, I 
keep them in a line at the top of the black-board ; and, before 
a new letter is added, I make all the class call the name of 
each as I point at it. When they can make eight, and name 
them, or even sooner, I begin to combine them into words. 
Thus of A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H,— I make BAD, and pro- 
nounce it, requiring them to pronounce it after me. Then I 
ask them what BAD means ; and, if a good instance occurs 
to me, I tell them of some BAD boy or BAD girl, and give 
them some caution or advice. Then, to teach them the sound 
of A, I tell them that, without the D, the word is pro- 
nounced BA; without B and D, it is A. Then I require the 



READING. ] 1 

whole class to pronounce BAD, then BA, then A, several 
times, till the sound of A in BAD, and that of the B and 
D, are well understood. Then I write the word BAD at the 
top or side of the black-board, and proceed to form another 
word, say BED. This word must be pronounced, like the 
former, several times ; then without the D ; without B and D ; 
and, finally, the sound of E alone must be given. Do not 
hurry to a new word till the old one is familiar, every sound 
of it. 

Those who prefer to teach words before letters, or, with 
them, will like this method, which seems to be free from the 
objections that have been urged against the plan of teaching 
whole words, without separating them into their elementary 
letters and sounds. 

To relieve the children, I would now give them some 
advice about going to BED, or rising betimes. Perhaps I 
should recommend a short prayer when they retire and rise, 
and should tell them what a prayer is, and how it should be 
made. A seed sown in this way may bear most precious 
fruit. The teacher may thus form many words. But three 
or four at a lesson will be enough ; and at every new lesson, 
every word that the teacher has formed at the previous lesson 
must be formed by the children as a spelling lesson. The 
children will then see the use of letters in the formation of 
words, and will acquire some knowledge of what is called 
their power as well as of their names Q.rid forms. 

I have sometimes even attempted to analyze the words thus 
formed, by spelling them by their powers or sounds, and not 
by their Tiames. Some intelligent children very readily learn 
the powers in this way, and easily distinguish between the 
name in the alphabet and the sound in the word. To enable 
the teacher to do this, it may be convenient for him to have a 
few words of instruction in regard to the powers of the letters, 
and I subjoin them : — 

TABLE OF VOWEL SOUNDS. 





Common School Speller. 


1. A, as in Fate and in Pa-per, . 


. pp. 13,31,84 


the same as 




AI in Aid and Rai-sin, 


. " 24, 45, 149 


AY in Day and Pay-ment, . 


, « 25,47 


EI in Feint and Hei-nous, . 


. « 173 


EY in They and Ey-ry, 


. " 25,47 


EA in Great and Steak, 


. " 82, 132 



12 



THE teachers' INSTITUTE. 



2. A, as in Fat, and in Hab-it, . . 

3. A, as in All, and in Wa-ter, . . 

the same as 
AU in Daub and Cau-cus, 
AW in Dawn and Aw-ful, 

4. A, as in Fast, and in Pa-pa, . . 

the same as 
AH in Ah ! and Se-lah, 

EA in Heart and Heark-en, 
AU in Aunt and Daunt-less, 

5. A, as in Care, and in Wel-fare, . . 

the same as 
EA in Bear and For-swear, 

AI in Air and Re-pair, . 

1. E, as in Me, and in Sin-cere, . . . 



EE 
EA 
IE 
EI 

I 



the same as 
in Beef 
in Pea 
in Field 
in Ei-ther 
in Suite 



and A-greed, 
and Ap-peal, 
and A-piece, 
and Con-ceit, 
and Po-lice, 



E, as in Met, and in Pro-tect, . . 
the same as 
AI in Said and A-gain, 

EA in Head and Heav-en, 

EI in Heif-er, and Foreign, 
IE in Friend, .... 



1. I, as in P 

Y 

IE 
IGH 

2. I, as in Pi 

Y 
EY 
AI 
lA 

EI 
UI 



ne, and in Em-pire, . . 
the same as 

n Fly and Re-ply, 

n Pie and Be-lie, 

n Fight and De-hght, . 

n, and in Di-rect, . . . 

the same as 

n Lynx and Sys-tem, . 
n Val-ley and Tur-key, . 
n Vil-lain and Cap-tain, . 
n Mar-riage and Par-lia-B[>ent, 
n Mul-lein and For-feit,^^ 
n Build and Guilt-y, '"^ 



Common School Speller. 

pp. 14, 32, 85 
22, 44 

" 24, 46, 129 
25, 47 

" 23, 43, 104 

80, 113 

84 

174 

46 

83 
46 

" 16, 33, 86 

" 25, 48, 129 
" 26, 48, 130 
" 27, 50, 130 
" 27, 50, 139 
170 

" 16, 34, 86 

173 

82, 132 

173 

173 

« 17, 35, 87 

" 23, 42, 95 
27 
56 

" 18, 37, 88 

« 42, 99, 120 

43 

174 

174 

173 

82 



READING. 



13 



1. O, as in No, and in Pro-mote, . . 
the same as 
OA in Oak and Char-coal, . 
OE m Toe and Roe-buck, 
OU in Soul and Poul-try, . 
OW in Bowl and Dis-own, . 



2. O, as in Not, and in A-dopt, . . 

the same as 
A in Swan and Watch-ful, 

3. 0, as in Do, and in Im-prove, . . 

the same as 
00 in Cool and Bal-loon, . 
W in Wax and Wil-ling,(W, consonant) 
OU in You and Surtout, . 



4. O, as in Nor, and in For-lorn, . . 

1. U, as in Cube, and in Re-buke, 

the same as 
EW in Few and Sin-ew, 
EU in Feud and Neu-ter, . 
UE in Cue and Im-bue, 
UI in Juice and Nui-sance, 

2. U, as in Tub, and in A-dult, . . 

the same as 

in Monk, Li-on, Fa-vor, 
OU in Touch, Coup-let, Pi-ous, . 
A in Vo-cal, Li-ar, Or-gan, 
E in Her and Bar-ber, 

1 in Sir and Na-dir, 

3. U, as in Bull, and in Pul-pit, . . 

1. OU, as in Bound, and in De-vour, 
OW, as in Now, and in Crowd-ed, 

2. 01, as in Oil, and in A-void, 
OY, as in Boy, and in Em-ploy, . 



Common School Speller. 

pp. 19, 38, 89 

" 28, 52, 131 

29 

29, 52 

29, 52 

" 20, 39, 90 



45 
55 

28,51 

179 

27, 50, 104 

21, 40, 90 

27,49 

81 
81 
82 

21,41,91 





57, 


123 




58, 


126 




105, 


159 

108 

59 




31 


,55 


29 


53, 


131 


30 


53, 


132 


30 


54, 


132 




3C 


,54 



TABLE OF CONSONANT SOUNDS. 



B, in Bat 

C, (soft) in Cent 
(hard) in Cat 

2 



and Cab. 
and Mmce. 
and Zinc. 





THE 


TEACHERS 


INSTITUTE. 


CH 


(soft) 


n Chin 


and Patch. 




(hard) 


in Chasm 


and Conch. 




(like SH) 


in Chaise 


and Ma-chine 


D, 




in Dot 


and Bad. 


F, 




m Fan 


and Chaff. 


G, 


(soft) 


m Gin 


and Dodge. 




(hard) 


m Got 


and Dog. 


H, 




m Hat 


and Hop. 


J, 




m Jog 


and Judge. 


K, 




in Kin 


and Sick. 


L, 




n Lap 


and Feh. 


M, 




m Man 


and Ham. 


N, 




in Nut 


and Bun. 




(nasal) 


n Tin-ker 


and Un-cle. 


P, 




m Pig 


and Hop. 


Qa 


(as KW) 


n Quit 


and Quell. 




(asK) 


in Ob-liqu€ 


; and Li-quor. 


R, 


(rough) 


in Rob 


and Fer-ry. 




(smooth) 


m Bare 


and Care-ful. 


s, 


(hissing) 


m Sun 


and Lisp. 




(buzzing) 


m Pins 


and Was. 


SH 




m Shop 


and Bush. 


T, 




m Ten 


and Flat. 


TH, (lisping) 


in Thin 


and Faith. 




(humming) 


in This 


and With. 


V, 




m Vest 


and Give. 


w, 


(as 00) 


in Was 


and Wife. 


X, 


(as CS) 


m Wax 


and Text. 




(as GZ) 


in Ex-act 


and Ex-ult. 


Y, 


(as E long) 


in Yet 


and York. 


z, 




in Zed 


and A-maze. 




(as ZH) 


m A-zure 


and Bra-zier. 



In using the preceding Tables, of course, there will be a 
great variety of methods, and a skilful teacher will hardly 
need any instruction. I shall content myself, therefore, with 
only a few general hints. 

In attempting to teach the powers or sounds to mere begin- 
ners, the first column only of vowel sounds should be used, 
until the children are familiar with them. The teacher 
should first pronounce the sound, and require the class to 
pronounce after him ; and, if any teacher is in doubt as to 
the precise sound of a letter, he may arrive at it by first pro- 



READING. 15 

nouncing the word that contains the letter, say Fate, which 
consists of three sounds only, viz., F, A, T, the E being 
silent. Then let him drop the T, and pronounce F, A. 
Finally, dropping the F, let him pronounce the A alone. 
First drop what follows the vowel, then what precedes it, and 
then pronounce the bare vowel sound. 

In teaching the consonants and combinations, a similar rule 
may be adopted. Pronounce the word Bat, for instance, 
then, drop the T, then drop the A, and give the B, which will 
be found to be pronounced by the lips. Then pronounce 
CAB ; omit the C and pronounce AB ; then pronounce the 
B. In pronouncing the consonants, both columns of words 
may be used. 

Some have divided these consonant sounds into sub-vowels 
and aspirates, the sound of the sub- vowels being heard, and 
that of the aspirates being only a whisper or breathing. Of 
this latter class are, F, H, K, F, S, T, SH, CH soft, TH 
sharp, and WH, which last is pronounced as if written HW, 
which approaches the sound of HOO. A little practice will 
make all these sounds very familiar. As it is very con- 
venient to exhibit the tables to the class, and as the chalking 
of them on the black-board requires more time and occupies 
more space than the teacher can always spare, the author has 
caused them to be printed in large type on a sheet, to be hung 
up before the class. 

After the pupils are familiar with the vowel and consonant 
sounds, the teacher may proceed to expose the unlucky rich- 
ness of our alphabet, which enables us to indicate the same 
sound in a great variety of ways. This will lead him to 
notice the second column of characters in the table of vowel 
sounds, AI, AY, &c. 

If our alphabet w^ere what it ought to be, we should have 
one character or letter to represent each sound used in con- 
versation, and but one, so that it would be impossible to spell 
a word with more than one set of characters ; but, unfortu- 
nately, those who first wrote English, instead of inventing a 
new alphabet adapted to the English language, used that 
belonging to the Latin tongue, and did not do as well as they 
might have done even with that. It so happens, therefore, 
that several of the sounds of our language have no letter or 
character to represent them, and some of the characters that 
we have are obliged to represent more than one sound. 

Thus, in the table, the character A has at least five sounds, 



16 THE teachers' INSTITUTE. 

and the first of them, viz., long A, may be represented by five 
other characters, viz., Ai, Ay, Ei, Ey, and Ea. Short 1 may 
be represented by six other characters, viz., Y short, Ey, Ai, 
la, Ei and Ui. The new method, called Phonogra'phy^ if 
written, and Phonotypy^ if printed, proposes to correct this 
evil, and to furnish one character for every sound, and to use 
but one. This reform has been attempted several times 
before, but without success ; for, besides the want of skill in 
forming the new characters, the educated class are reluctant 
to learn a new alphabet, and to have the published literature 
of our language become a dead letter. Whether the system 
of Phonotypy now offered for acceptance will succeed any 
better than its predecessors is doubtful ; but, considering it 
almost certain that, for many years, it will not succeed to any 
considerable extent, I have prepared the tables of vowel and 
consonant sounds so that, while presenting no obstacle to the 
introduction of the new system, they will enable the teacher 
to make his pupils more thoroughly acquainted with the 
old. 

It will be perceived that there are figures in the tables. 
These refer to pages in the Common School Speller of the 
author, where suitable lessons illustrating the sound may be 
found all prepared to the teacher's hand. In fact, his whole 
Spelling Book is but a practical lesson upon the tables, the 
classification of the words being based upon the fundamental 
sounds of the language, so that it is a comple system of Pro- 
nunciation as well as of Orthography. If it is used in the 
school, the teacher has only to direct the children to the page, 
and require them to spell and pronounce ; but, if the teacher 
alone has a copy of the Speller, he can chalk as many words 
as he pleases in addition to those in the tables, until the class 
have had sufficient practice. 

After the child is acquainted with the alphabet and the 
elementary sounds, the question arises, " How must he be 
taught to read ? " This is a question of some moment, and 
one, at first sight, might be excused for thinking it a difficult 
matter to answer it. I am inclined, however, to think that, 
with proper management, it is a very easy matter to make 
children read well. I should lay it down, however, as a pre- 
requisite, essential to success, that the teacher of reading 
should be a good reader himself. 

It has often been objected to this position, that children 
have been taught to read well by instructors who were very 
indiflferent readers. That children have learned to read 



READING. 17 

under such teachers I am willing to admit, because the fact is 
evident ; but that they have been taught by their masters, I 
do not admit, for / consider it impossible for any person to 
teach well what he does not understand. If a child has some- 
times learned to read or write, or cipher or sing, under an 
incompetent instructor, it has been, not because of the teacher, 
but in spite of him, and the question is, not how much has he 
learned, but how much more would he have learned had the 
instructor been fully prepared to teach him. 

Before the child reads, some attention should be paid to his 
position. For a general rule, he should rest on the left foot, 
which should be a little turned out, and the right heel should 
be about opposite the middle of the left foot, and two or 
three inches from it ; a position not unlike that which the 
dancing-masters call their second position. The book, unless 
very heavy, should be held in the left hand, opposite the 
chest, and never so high as to conceal the chin of the reader. 

The reader should also be placed at a good distance from 
the teacher, for it is desirable that he should read so as to be 
heard across a common school-room, and few children will do 
this, if placed near the teacher, for they naturally calculate to 
make those whom they address hear them, and few children 
read aloud, if reading in a low voice is sufficient to make the 
teacher hear. If possible, the class should always stand 
while reading, and so stand that the teacher can see the entire 
person of every one, that he may watch their positions. At 
one of the Teachers' Institutes, I required every teacher to 
stand on a platform in full view of the others. It evidently 
cost many of them a great effort, and more than half of them 
had never been so exposed before. One young female, who 
had taught several summers, faltered at the first word she 
uttered, then trembled, dropped her book to her side, and 
burst into tears. She then made for her seat, but I stopped 
her, and encouraged her not to yield, but to do as she would 
advise a pupil to do in similar circumstances. She rallied, 
resolved, and in a minute or two read without further trouble. 
When called on in turn again, she came forward, and read 
with a sort of satisfaction at the victory she had obtained over 
herself. But, some children have weak voices, and cannot 
read so loud as their fellows. The teacher must, therefore, 
be careful to favor such voices, and, while he endeavors 
gradually to strengthen them, he must not rudely break or 
injure them by requiring too great an efTort at first. 
2* 



18 THE teachers' INSTITUTE. 

I am persuaded that nothing but the incompetency of 
teachers has led to the preparation of various series of reading 
books, intended, as far as possible, to help the pupil to learn 
independently of the master. Perhaps these books are doing 
a good work by calling the attention of the teacher to what 
he would otherwise neglect, but my experience satisfies me 
that, if the teacher knows how to read, those aids in which 
many school books abound, are worse than useless, because 
positively injurious. 

The competent teacher needs but two rules by which to be 
guided in teaching his pupils to read. He must make them 
understand what is to be read, and then require them to read 
naturally. To expect a child to read what he does not 
understand is unreasonable, and yet nothing is more common. 
Until very lately, teachers were generally accustomed to pay 
no attention to the explanation of such pieces as are found in 
School Readers, and turned their attention almost entirely 
to the pauses and the pronunciation ; important points, to be 
sure, but by no means the life-giving elements of good 
reading. 

The teacher should consult all the practical works on the 
art of reading, but, as far as my observation goes, it is idle to 
put marks and rules and directions, whether by words or 
characters, into books intended to be read by children, for the 
plain reason that they seldom or never use them. The chief 
reading-book, when I was at school, was Scott's Lessons, and 
this was furnished with from fifty to a hundred pages of what 
were called Lessons in Elocution ; but I never was required 
to read a word of them, and they were never explained to me, 
yet they cumbered the book, and increased its price one 
quarter at least. I am told by teachers that the same is the 
case with more modern books. 

The child should, for a general rule, see as few things in 
school books, that he will not see in other books, as possible ; 
for, when he leaves school, and the helps are withdrawn, he 
will be the less able to go alone, the more he has trusted to 
such aids. In conversation, children have no such assistance, 
and need none. They know what they say, and what they 
mean, and the pauses, emphasis, and inflections, are made 
without any effort, without any guide. To a great degree 
this would he the case in reading, if they fully understood the 
meaning of the piece, and the object of the writer. Not 
many months ago, I visited a primary school where the read- 



READING. 19 

ing was entirely artificial. A girl, about eight years old, read 
a portion of a story which was chiefly dialogue, and she not 
only read both parts of the dialogue in a monotone, but in a 
monotone of the most unpleasant kind, for it was at the top 
of a disagreeably shrill voice. When she had done, I took 
the book and read a portion of it just as she had done, and 
when she and the whole class began to laugh, I, with the 
greatest gravity, asked them why they laughed. " Do I not 
read naturally ? " said I. " No, sir," said they. " But, do I 
not read as that little miss did?" "Yes, sir," said they. 
" Well, would not the little boy and his mother in the story 
talk thus ? " said I. " No, sir, they would laugh in each other's 
faces if they did." " Well," said I to the little girl who had 
previously read, " let me hear you read it just as the mother 
and boy would have spoken it." She did so, and not a pause 
or inflection needed correction. Here was a fault of the 
teacher, and not of the child. The teacher had allowed the 
child, and probably her whole school, to read in this unnat- 
ural manner, and the children had been led to suppose that 
reading and talking were different things altogether. 

This fault, however, is not confined to schools. Most of 
our public readers, especially clergymen, early acquire one 
tone and manner for conversation, another for reading, espe- 
cially for reading the Scriptures, and a third for prayer, with- 
out any thing of nature in either. I once made this remark 
to a worthy clergyman, now living, who offended beyond any 
man I ever knew in this respect, and his son-in-law at once 
said, what I had not dared to say to him, " Thou art the 
man." The venerable man could hardly believe it of him- 
self, but the hint was not lost, for on the next Sabbath, he 
prayed and read and preached in his natural voice, and the 
people said he had never preached so well, though, not know- 
ing the secret, they could not tell what the reason was, for 
they had heard the same sermon at least once before. I 
would, therefore, have the teacher a pattern worthy of imita- 
tion, in this matter of reading, and I would advise him to read 
much to his pupils. When I was a teacher, I had one exer- 
cise, to which more than to any other method of reading, I 
owed my success in this branch of instruction. I was accus- 
tomed to open school every morning with the reading of a 
portion of the Scriptures. At first, I read and required the 
pupils to listen, but this they did not always do. Then I 
required some one or more of them to read, but this failed to 



20 THE TEACHERS INSTITUTE. 

interest the rest. Then I read the verses ahernately with 
them, but this broke up the connection of the text, and often 
produced a confusion of voices. At last I hit upon a plan 
which I pursued for fifteen years with the happiest effects. I 
required all the pupils to stand and read, not with me, but 
after me. I read as few words as the sense or the pauses 
allowed ; and then stopping, they read the same words, all 
together, and, as nearly as possible, just as I had read them. 
For instance, in reading the Sermon on the Mount, I stopped 
at the bars, being careful to give the proper inflection of the 
voice, and to see that the whole school, which usually num- 
bered more than a hundred, did the same. 

" And seeing the multitudes, | he went up into a moun- 
tain ; I and when he was set, | his disciples came unto him.| 
And he opened his mouth | and taught them, | saying,! 
Blessed are the poor in spirit, | for theirs is the kingdom of 
heaven. | Blessed are they that mourn, | for they shall be 
comforted. | Blessed are the meek, | for they shall inherit 
the earth," | &c. 

By this method, all the pupils were engaged in reading, and 
all were attentive. If I stopped to correct an error of pronun- 
ciation, it was noticed by all ; if I stopped to explain the 
meaning of any word or phrase, all were benefited; if 1 
stopped to ask a question, every one was ready to answer ; 
finally, if I stopped to give any moral or religious instruction, 
I was generally sure of a very attentive audience. By 
requiring every pupil to read as I did, without regard to her 
neighbors, the most perfect harmony was preserved, and any 
error produced a discord, which was as easily detected as a 
discord among a choir of singers. 

This attention was of great advantage ; but the quantity 
read, and well read, was a great advantage also. In the 
ordinary way, a school of a hundred pupils would only read 
a verse or two in an hour, but by the process I propose, every 
child reads a whole chapter in from five to ten minutes ; a 
difference of practice that cannot but be important. Indeed, I 
was satisfied, after a short experiment, that, independent of 
the advantage of the exercise in a religious point of view, the 
pupils were actually advanced further by this method than 
by all the other practice they obtained in their classes. 

Another important good resulted from this exercise. It is 
well known that many pious persons have a serious objection 
to havinsr the Bible read as a common exercise in school, in 



READING. 21 

consequence of the careless manner in which the exercise is 
performed, the indifference of the children to it, and the dim- 
inution of respect for the Scriptures, if not distaste for them, 
which is the result of familiarity. 

I cannot discuss the question, " Whether it is prudent to 
use a part, and not the whole of the Bible in our schools ? " 
for, although some, whom I reverence, have expressed fears 
lest the use of a selection of Scripture Lessons should lead 
the yoang to think that the passages not selected are less val- 
uable and important than those taken, still it is evident that 
the practice of the whole Christian world is on the side of 
selections. What is the liturgy of the Roman Catholic 
Church, the liturgy and psalter of the English Church and 
of our Reformed Episcopal Church, but a selection ? What 
is the custom of our dissenting clergy, not one in a thousand 
of whom reads the entire Scriptures in course from the 
pulpit, but making and using a selection ? What, indeed, is 
the practice of using the New Testament in Sunday and 
secular schools, but using a part of the Bible because more 
convenient, as well as more generally interesting to the 
young ? The fact is, that, whether a selection is used or not, 
a selection is unifosmly viade by all teachers that read the 
Scriptures in school ; and who can hesitate between a selec- 
tion made- at leisure with great care, after much practice 
in the reading of Scripture, and one made on the spur of the 
moment, perhaps by one who neither respects the Bible, nor 
can read it decently ? 

It was my custom always to select a passage before I went 
to school, and to study it and read it, until I could do some 
measure of justice to it. Then I read it to the class as well 
as I could, and, by my manner, I found it very easy to impress 
upon the minds of the children the same respect for the sacred 
volume that I felt myself, and the importance of this early 
reverence cannot be overestimated by the parent and the 
instructor. 

But the selection of suitable passages required much care, 
and much time ; and, in case it was necessary to skip any 
portion, or turn to other passages of similar import, it was 
attended with many disadvantages. I contrived to do this, 
however, for many years, until, having gone through the 
Old and New Testament several times, and marked those 
portions that seemed to be best adapted to the instruction of 
children of both sexes in the presence of each other, I at last 
collected these passages into a small volume and printed 



22 THE teachers' institute. 

them. As the division into chapters and verses is only use- 
ful for ready reference by students, and is of no use to children, 
nay, is of great disadvantage to them, in consequence of the 
increased difficulty of understanding the passage and reading 
it correctly, I followed the plan of the Paragraph Bible. 
The type used was better than is found in school Bibles and 
testaments ; the punctuation was more carefully attended to , 
and the more emphatical words marked as usual by Italic 
type. 

As the selection was to be used in our common schools, the 
text was given unaltered, with references to the chapters and 
verses, but without any notes or commentary. An outline 
of Old Testament History is given in the order of the com- 
mon version, but the four evangelists are given in one con- 
nected narrative, according to Townsend's chronological 
arrangement. Then, as many beautiful passages are scattered 
over the Old and New Testament, too short of themselves for 
a reading lesson, but excellent for this purpose when classed 
with other passages of similar import, one third of the book 
consists of passages so selected, and arranged under various 
heads, such as " Reverence for God," " Love to God and 
Man," " Heavenly Wisdom," " Sublimity of the Scriptures," 
&c. This selection, called the Bible Reader, has met with 
much favor from teachers and clergymen, many of whom 
have confessed to me that it produced, in their hands, all the 
delightful effects that I have myself witnessed. As to the 
fairness with which the selection has been made, I can only 
say that it has met the approbation of every denomination of 
Christians that use the Scriptures, and this is not to be 
wondered at, for the manuscript was subjected to the severest 
scrutiny before it was put to the press. 

Much has been said of the matter contained in school read- 
ing books, and a great mistake, I think, prevails on this subject. 
The imperfect way in which reading has been taught, in so 
far as little or no attempt has been made to explain the text, 
has led many teachers and school committees to suppose that 
the selections were above the comprehension of children ; but 
I have never seen such a selection, and do not believe that 
any such exists. 

Another mistake is made by those who suppose that a book 
is unfit for use because it has been in use so long. This 
objection, in my opinion, will lie only against such books as 
are brought down to the capacity of children, so that they 



HEADING. 23 

need no study, no explanation. It seems to me that books 
which are to be read more than once should be so constructed 
that at every successive reading the master may have some- 
thing new to explain, and the pupil something new to learn ; 
and, as the old book is new to new classes, and can be more 
effectually taught the better it can be read and explained by 
the teacher, the older the book the better, if it was a good one 
at first. It is a favorite notion of some excellent friends of 
education that the reading lessons in our common schools 
should be mainly selected with a view to the imparting of 
useful knowledge, and the inculcation of virtuous sentiments. 
To a certain degree this plan may be adopted, but in every 
case in which it has been fully carried out, it has failed. We 
have had Peace Readers, Temperance Readers, Agricultural 
Readers, Scientific Readers, Religious Readers, &c., &c., and 
these one-idea books have contained much that is valuable; but 
they have always failed to make good readers, in the highest 
sense of the term good. Reading is an art, a glorious art, 
which can no more be learned or taught from humdrum books 
of science or from moral essays, than English composition can 
be learned by the perusal of Murray's Grammar. 

In Massachusetts and New York, the legislature has pro- 
vided a large supply of useful reading in the school libraries, 
which have been established in the districts. The books thus 
provided are no doubt intended to furnish the knowledge which 
no school Reader, made or to be made, can supply to any con- 
siderable degree, while they enable the class books to be more 
fully adapted to teach something more of reading than the mere 
pronunciation of words, and the dull monotony, which are about 
all that the reading of a scientific tract requires. Books of 
useful knowledge should be read, but not at school. The few 
minutes devoted each day to reading, if spent only upon the 
most suitable books, will hardly suffice to make good readers; 
and it is with reading, as with spelling, if the necessary knowl- 
edge and practice are not obtained at school, there is but little 
chance of their ever being obtained afterward. I think I have 
never known a good reader who was contented to teach from 
such books ; and if good readers with poor tools can effect but 
little, what can be expected when both the teacher and the tools 
are bad ? All the popular books with which I am acquainted 
contain a due proportion of moral and useful pieces, and when 
two essays have equal merit as reading pieces, if one contains 
more useful knowledge than the other, I should by all means 
give it the preference ; but the cultivation of the taste and of the 



24 THE teachers' institute. 

imagination is as useful and as important as the acquisition 
of knowledge, and any system of education that does not 
recognize this truth must be greatly defective. 

If I were to name what I consider the great deficiency of 
our best school books. I should say, the want of a just proportion 
of dialogues. These are best understood by children, are 
read more naturally, and with more animation ; and, as the 
inflections of the voice are more various than in any other 
class of compositions, they are peculiarly useful to the good 
teacher. I had a variety of such books in my school library, 
from which my pupils occasionally read, and in no other 
exercise did they seem to take so much interest, or show their 
power so distinctly. If possible, dialogues should be read by 
as many pupils as there are characters, and each should read 
his part without changing it, for in this way he enters better 
into the spirit of the piece, and makes the sentiments his 
own. 

It is a misfortune that so few dialogues are to be found in 
our school books ; and this deficiency, rather than any ambi- 
tion to be a writer, induced the author a few years ago to 
publish a volume of Familiar Dialogues, that he had com- 
posed for the use of his pupils. He also published a small 
book for beginners, called the Primary Reader, which had 
the same object in view, and contains more dialogues and 
lively pieces than any other book intended for the same class 
of children. In schools where other books are used as text- 
Dooks, the teacher will do well to have one or two copies of 
the Primary Reader and the Familiar Dialogues, in which 
the child can read occasionally by way of reward, or for the 
sake of variety. 

Besides the method of Scripture Reading that I have 
described, I had various other methods, which I will endeavor 
briefly to describe. 

Before requiring a class to read the paragraphs consecu- 
tively, I sometimes selected a single paragraph, or short 
piece, and let every member of the class read it in rotation. 
After the first had read, I would call on such of the class as 
had noticed any fault to hold up their hands. I then heard 
their criticisms, one at a time, and made such remarks as 
seemed necessary, especially such as explained the meaning 
of the author. The next pupil then read, and was criticised 
in the same manner, and so on through the class. My cus- 
tom was to grant precedence to those who made important 



READING. 25 

corrections, for I never saw any evil resulting from this prac- 
tice that at all balanced the good produced by the earnest 
attention it called forth. Suppose the class to consist of A, B, 
C, D, E, F, G. Let A read. If D holds up his hand and 
points out any fault, he goes above A. B, C, and E, do not 
hold up their hands. F holds up his hand, but he miscor- 
rects, and in this case goes down one. This check is neces- 
sary, or the teacher will be too much interrupted. The class 
then stands thus, D, A, B, C, E, G, F. D reads next, and, 
when called on, C and F raise their hands. C points out an 
important error in pronunciation and goes to the head. F 
detects a wrong inflection of the voice, and goes next to C. 
The class then stands thus, C, F, D, A, B, E, G. Then C 
reads, and A, B and E hold up hands. A makes a judi- 
cious correction and goes to the head. B miscorrects once, 
and once points out a real error, and he neither goes up nor 
down. E detects an error and goes next above C. Then the 
class stands thus. A, E, C, F, D, B, G. 

It is unnecessary to go further, for the teacher must under- 
stand the process. Sometimes, instead of requiring each 
pupil to read the same paragraph, I required each to take a 
new passage. This may seem to afford the pupils a more 
equal chance, but I have generally found that, even when 
they all read the same passage, they made as many faults 
as we had time to correct, and before we ^ft the paragraph, 
it was better read and better understood than if it had only 
been read once. 

Another mode was to require each pupil to read the same 
piece, without any correction by the class or by the teacher. 
Then, after some general remarks upon the piece, its mean- 
ing, design, &;c., I read the piece myself to the class. This 
method generally commands the full attention of the class, 
who should be called on promiscuously and not in the order 
in which they stand ; but it is better calculated for reviewing, 
where the object is not so much to teach, as to ascertain the 
comparative ability of the readers. 

A third method was to set a reading lesson, and require 
the pupils to be prepared to give the meaning of every difficult 
word, if the class were young ; but, if older, they were also 
required to give the sense intended by the author ; to point 
out figures of speech, and even to analyze all compound 
words, or words having a prefix or affix in their composition. 
The reading lesson affords the best opportunity for teaching 
3 



26 THE teachers' institute. 

the meaning of words, and the skilful teacher will improve 
it. The too common method of learning pages of the dic- 
tionary, is almost useless, for there is nothing to fix the 
definitions in the memory, and they are often various and 
contradictory, and more unintelligible than the word is with- 
out them ; but, in the reading lesson, where the word is cor- 
rectly used, it may be accurately defined, and impressed 
upon the memory by its association in the sentence. There 
is no harm in requiring the pupil to spell the difficult words 
as well as to define them, but the teacher must be careful not 
to rely upon such a spelling lesson, except for review, for the 
reading books will not contain half the words that the child 
should be taught to spell ; he will never know what he has 
learned, and in Avhat he is deficient ; and the entire absence 
of system or classification will prevent him from learning 
what are the rules of English orthography. I have even 
doubted whether the selection of words, which is placed at the 
beginning of the lessons in some reading books, is not a posi- 
tive evil, for it prevents the child, in a great measure, from 
using his intellect, in ascertaining the meaning, and throws 
him almost entirely upon his verbal memory, which will 
probably fail him before he has learned the next lesson. 

Another method which I sometimes used had often a very 
good effect. I would read to the class, and occasionally mis- 
pronounce a word, place the emphasis wrong, or give a 
wrong inflection. I would then call on the class for correc- 
tions, and generally they would be more on the alert, than if 
the object were merely to discover an error of one of their 
companions. 

But, after all, the best thing a teacher can do, for his own 
improvement and that of his pupils, is to read much to them, 
and as well as he can. He must study the lessons in the 
textbook, and make his pupils understand them. The Bible 
contains a prescription for good reading of more value than all 
the slides, and accents, and other contrivances to make good 
readers, that ever were invented. I give the passage, and 
commend it to the practice of teachers, even to the opening 
of the book and the standing up. 

Nehemiah viii. 5. " And Ezra opened the Book in the 
sight of all the people, and when he opened it, all the people 
stood up. ^ ^ =^ ^^ So they read in the Book of the Law of 
God distinctly^ and gave the sense, and caused [the people] to 
understand the reading.''' 



27 



SPELLING. 

It has been shown already that I should connect spelling 
and reading with writing, from the very outset. As soon as 
the child can pronounce the alphabet, on my plan, he will be 
able to write it, and then, as he advances, he must continue to 
write all the spelling lessons, and as much of the reading les- 
ions as time will admit. But, as this method requires a better 
knowledge of writing than is commonly found in our schools, 
especially in the lowest classes, I shall endeavor to describe my 
method of teaching the art of writing, by which I never failed 
to make my pupils write any thing they could read, and write 
it well too, though often less than five years of age. 

On the wall, back of my desk, or in some other handy and 
conspicuous place, I had a long and narrow black-board, ruled 
in the manner described hereafter under the head of Writing. 
The lines were slightly cut into the board before it was 
painted, and though distinctly visible afterwards, they did not 
disfigure any writing that was executed over them. Every 
child had a slate ruled exactly like the black-board, and the 
first copies set for the pupils were written before their eyes on 
the board, and copied upon their slates. All my pupils could 
print before they could write, but the transition to writing v/as 
so easy, and done so early, that they seemed to write as fast 
as they learned to read and spell and print. 

I believe I was the first teacher in Boston that required 
children of four years of age to write, and it often struck 
visitors with wonder to see children at five, writing a good 
hand, with great despatch, when it was a rare thing elsewhere 
to find children seven years old able to read a word of manu- 
script, much less to write well, without a pattern, as all my 
little pupils did. It is less rare to see little children writing 
now-a-days, but, when, within a year, I have proposed to 
teachers to require children of seven and eight to write their 
spelling lessons, I have been told either that they could not 
write, or that it would take them all day to write a lesson of 
fifty words. My pupils would write fifty words of four sylla- 
bles in less than twenty minutes, and write them well too. 



28 THE teachers' institute. 

The despatch acquired by thus writing on the slate, and the 
free motion of the hand, were important points gained by this 
method, preparatory to using the pen. 

When the object was merely to teach writing to beginners, 
my custom was to call the attention of the class to the black- 
board, and then to say, " I wish you to draw a straight but 
leaning line, from this line to this," suiting the action to the 
word. Or, " I wish you to begin an O here and end it so," 
describing and demonstrating every step as I advanced. If 
encouraged, I shall soon prepare boards, slates and books, and 
a manual for instruction on this plan, and, therefore ^ shall 
not be more particular, especially as my object now is to show 
how spelling may be taught by writing, and not how writing 
itself may be taught. 

The author was glad to perceive that of the thousand 
teachers whom he has met at Teachers' Institutes, nineteen 
twentieths were tolerable penmen, and if those he saw are 
not more than a fair specimen of the teachers of our district 
schools, there is no reason in the world why every child, in 
every school, should not be a good penman at a very early 
age. The immense advantage of this acquisition to the chil- 
dren cannot be overrated, (i>r, besides the mechanical skill, 
the child has a means of constant employment, which will 
keep him out of idleness and mischief, and the teacher can 
make this skill bear upon almost every exercise in other 
branches of instruction. In Boston, for more than half a 
century, writing was entirely separated from every other 
branch except Arithmetic, to which it administers less aid, 
perhaps, than to any other study ; but, of late, one or two 
other branches have been added to those taught in the writing 
schools, although orthography, grammar and composition are 
still taught in a separate room, by other teachers, who are 
not required to teach penmanship. This separation of things 
so nearly allied, has never been attempted in the district 
schools out of Boston, and it is to be hoped it never will be 
introduced there. 

But, let us return to Orthography, and describe some of 
the processes by which it may be connected with writing. 

If the teacher is unacquainted with fhe use of monitors, or 
is not allowed to use his better pupils as assistants, he may 
require every class to write every word of the spelling lesson 
upon the slate, on the lines that correspond to those on the 
black-board, in which case, but few words can be written 



SPELLING. 29 

at a time. This is better, while the hand is forming, than to 
require the whole lesson to be written in smaller letters, on that 
side of the slate which is not ruled. If he cannot find time 
to examine every slate, the mere writing of the words will be 
of great service to the learners ; but the active teacher will 
contrive some way to examine every slate, and to mark the 
errors. If the words are written in a large hand on the ruled 
lines, he can, at a signal, have all the slates held up by the 
pupils so that he can see them ; or, if the desks are so con- 
structed that he can pass behind the pupils, he can easily 
walk around and correct them. But, if the teacher is allowed 
to use his pupils as assistants in such matters as may safely 
be taught by them, all the words may be dictated, and 
promptly examined, without interruption to the teacher, who 
may be otherwise engaged. 

Suppose the teacher to have heard a recitation of one class, 
and to have called out another, which is to recite to him. If 
he wishes to keep those who are at their seats employed in 
writing their spelling lessons, he can appoint one well-behaved 
scholar to dictate the words from the spelling book, and to 
inspect the slates, book in hand. My pupils were arranged in 
rows, each row perhaps forming a class. Between each row 
there was room for a person to pass. If there were several 
classes, the monitor, as the assistant pupil was called, had a 
mark in his spelling book at each of their lessons. He then 
dictated the first word of the lesson to the highest class, by 
spelling it distinctly. They began to write it, and he pro- 
ceeded to the next row or class, and dictated a word of their 
lesson by spelling it aloud. They began to write, and he 
went to the next class, and so on. By the time he had dic- 
tated a word to the lowest class, the highest was ready for 
another ; he gave them one, and proceeded to the next as 
before. As soon as they had written as many words as the 
lines on the slate admitted, he walked behind and examined 
the slates ; or, he told each pupil to change slates with some 
neighbor, or to compare slates ; or, if there was not time for 
this, he ordered all to clean slates at a signal given, and then 
prepare to write another slate full. 

It is a grievous evil that so few of our common district 
schools have the seats so constructed that the teacher can get 
at his pupils so as to inspect their work ; and, where this evil 
exists, the ingenuity of the teacher will be severely tried. 
But, as I have said before, if the pupil writes the words 
3# 



30 THE teachers' INSTITUTE. 

qiiietly from the book, or from the dictation of a monitor, he 
will be greatly benefited, whether his work is examined or 
not. In many cases, the teacher will be able to direct this 
exercise himself; and practice will enable him to overcome 
many obstacles, which, at first, may seem insurmountable. 

By thus writing the word, the eye as well as the ear is 
trained, and a child thus taught is in little danger of exhibit- 
ing that common phenomenon of correctly spiling even the 
hardest words orally, and of misspelling the most common 
words when called upon to write them. Every teacher 
knows that children unaccustomed to write do this, and yet 
how few have applied the only remedy ! 

In oral spelling, or in written, of course it is important 
what words are spelled, and in what order they are presented 
to the child. A few years ago, at a convention of teachers 
and friends of education in Berkshire County, it was unan- 
imously voted to be the opinion of the convention that, for 
twenty or more years, spelling had been retrograding in our 
schools. There can be no doubt of this fact ; but as I have 
endeavored to account for it in the Lecture on Memory that 
forms a part of this volume, I shall not enlarge upon the sub- 
ject here any further than to remark, that, in my visits to the 
Teachers' Institutes of New York and Massachusetts, I have 
uniformly found the young teachers more deficient in spelling 
than in any other branch of study, and I rarely found one 
who had been educated to write words, and to require his 
pupils to do so. 

Very soon after I became a teacher, I felt the necessity of 
a spelling book that should present the words of our language 
so classed and arranged, that, without knowing it, the pupil 
should become acquainted with the rules of English orthog- 
raphy and pronunciation ; and, by the aid of association, 
should have the form of words indelibly impressed upon his 
memory. Although oppressed with labor, I then prepared a 
small spelling book, called the Improved Guide, which 
answered my purpose better than any other, and which, a few 
years ago, when I had more leisure and experience, was 
enlarged into my ^'Cojnmon School Speller.''-^ This Improved 
Spelling Book has met with a reception unexampled, I think, 
in this country, for the annual sale, only the third year after 
its publication, exceeded 40,000 copies. 

In the selection of words for the Speller, great care was 
taken not to admit any that were unsuitable in any respect, 



SPELLING. ' 31 

and yet the vocabulary is intended to contain all words that 
a well educated young gentleman should be acquainted with, 
and able to spell. To explain the classification, I know not 
that it will be unfair to say that there is as much difference 
between this and other spelling books as between order and 
confusion. In other spelling books, to be sure, there is a sort 
of order, but it is rarely calculated to aid the eye or the mem- 
ory of the pupil. Some definition spelling books, as thsy are 
called, place the words alphabetically, as they are placed in 
dictionaries, but in such books the words are no more classed 
than are the buildings in a long street that happen to be con- 
secutively numbered. Such an arrangement may enable the 
child to find a word easily, but it affords him no aid in learn- 
ing to spell. 

In other spelling books, the words are arranged according 
to the number of syllables they contain, but such words are 
no more classed than the lower animals would be if arranged 
according to their different sizes, when the real differences of 
form and structure are disregarded. 

In the best spelling books, those which are the most popu- 
lar, the words are placed very promiscuously ; but the authors 
seem to think they have rendered a strict classification 
unnecessary, because they have placed over each word some 
accent, figure, or other mark, referring to a key, where the 
pronunciation is explained. But, who does not see that 
words so situated and marked are no more classed than the 
scattered plants of a flower-garden that happen to be labelled. 
The difference between my spelling book and such as I have 
described may be illustrated by a very familiar comparison. 
Every one probably has seen what in Massachusetts is called 
a General Muster, when all the troops of a brigade are 
assembled on a spacious field for review and exercise. Before 
they are called to order, the members of the various com- 
panies, wearing different uniforms, are intermixed in such a 
manner that the spectators can form no idea of the number of 
companies, to say nothing of getting acquainted with each 
individual soldier. It is true that each soldier wears a knap 
sack on which the spectator may read the name of the com- 
pany, and perhaps of the regiment, to which he belongs ; but, 
even with this aid, he can have but a confused idea of the 
number and variety of the troops. Let the drum then call to 
order, ard the line be formed, and one glance v/iJl enable the 
spectator to judge of every particular relating to the troops 



32 THE teachers' institute. 

But it has been objected to my book that where the words 
are so exactly classed, it is difficult to distinguish one from 
another of the same class, and, therefore, it seems better to 
have them in confusion. When they are learning to spell, 
it is said, if they can spell one word of the class they can 
spell all the pest too easily, and they will not be likely to 
distinguish between the words, because they look so much 
alike. Now, if the objection have any force, it will lie 
against classification in every science, as well as against the 
classification of words. Linnaeus owes his immortality to the 
fact that, when the various plants and animals were running 
all over creation with labels on their backs, like the words in 
a " promiscuously arranged" spelling book, he discoTered their 
points of resemblance, classed them, and enabled his suc- 
cessors to learn in one year what before was the work of a 
life. Because two varieties of the helix, or snail, very nearly 
resemble each other, shall we put an oyster between them to 
set them off? Or, because two roses resemble each other very 
nearly, shall we place a sunflower between them ? We shall, 
if this objection has any force. It must be a mistake, then, to 
suppose that it is not safer to examine words that resemble 
each other side by side, where only the point of difference 
needs to be noticed, than to examine them apart from each 
other, independently, in which case it is necessary to observe 
every peculiarity of every word, — those in which they agree 
as well as those in which they differ. 

In the year 1841, the Secretary of the Massachusetts 
Board of Education delivered a lecture on the subject of 
spelling books, and having fallen accidentally upon my old 
one, " The Improved Guide,^' he made the following remarks, 
which are entitled to more weight than common notices of 
books, because I had not sent him the book, and had never 
spoken to him, or seen him. 

" When," says Mr. Mann, " reading has become easy, and 
it is expedient to carry forward the orthography of the language 
faster than it is possible to comprehend the meaning of all its 
words, a spelling book, constructed according to the law of 
association, should be put into the hands of the pupil. 
Although this idea has been acted upon to some extent before, 
yet the only spelling book with which I am acquainted that 
carries it out fully is one prepared by Mr. Fowle, of Boston. 
A few specimens from the book will give an intelligible view 
of its plan." After giving the specimens, Mr. Mann adds. 



SPELLING. 33 

" Now, it would seem to need no argument to prove that a 
child will master twenty pages of words arranged in this way 
more easily than he will a single page of words classed 
according to the number of syllables, and the place of the 
accent, irrespective of their formation ; — where a and eigh, e 
and eo, i and igh, o and eau, u and ew, with countless other 
combinations, have respectively the same sound, and are 
jumbled together after the similitude of chaos. On such les- 
sons as these, scholars will very rarely spelJ wrong. They 
can go through the book twenty times while they would go 
through a common spelling book once ; and each time will 
rivet the association ; that is, it will make an ally of the most 
unconquerable force of habit. A connection will be established 
between the general idea of the word and its component letters, 
which it will be nearly impossible to dissolve." After more 
remarks in the same strain, this sagacious observer, as if antici- 
pating the objection under consideration, says, after having 
recommended the frequent spelling and ivriti?ig also of the 
words thus classed, " It will be well, as a testing or experi- 
mental exercise, to put out words from the different tables 
promiscuously, in order to determine whether or not it may 
be necessary to drill the pupils longer upon it." And what 
is this but saying, that spelling should be taught by the well 
classed spelling book, and all the chaotic ones should be used 
only by way of review ? 

To show that this matter is not overstated, let us take a 
fair example from one of our popular spelling books, and 
it is hoped that this will not be deemed invidious, since the 
object is only to show the operation of the two plans. In one 
of them, then, I find the following column of words, printed 
just as I give them. 

The child has been told in the introduction that letters in 
Italic are not to be sounded, and the figures refer the child 
to the key which is printed over the lesson. Let it be recol- 
lected that the child always studies the lesson before he hears 
the words pronounced by the teacher ; and with no other aid 
than the figures, and the Italic letters, how will he succeed in 
finding the pronunciation of the several words ? and how 
much will the variety aid him in remembering how to spell 
them ? 



34 





THE teachers' INSTITUTE. 




J 3 4 5 14 8 
ir fall hat wad — mete met her 


9 1 4 8 10 
they— time tin sir pique - 


1 3 5 

- tone for not 




6 7 S 14 7 1 
do look love — mute cut full — new 


1 4 
— dry hymn. 




1 


4 


1 


4 


1 


6 


fu5e 


melt 


strain 


Stretch 


twain 


two 


free 


frank 


teal • 


duck 


I 


oi 


goad 
grade 
gross 


prick 
rank 
thick 


teat 
trail 
trow 


dug 

track 

think 


fa?/ 
poach 

2 


join 

boil 

1 


gyre 
haze 


ring 
mist 


type 
1 


stamp 

5 


barm 
blanch 


yeast 
bleach 


heave 


swell 


blain 


blotch 


blast 


Uigkt 


_ uzce 


sap 


chore 


job 


charge 


load 


eap 
lease 


spring 
let 


cease 
fleer 


stop 
mock 


clasp 
gant 


hold 
lean 


leave 


quit 


jeer 


scoff 


grant 


yield 


lieu 


stead 


ode 


song 


grasp 


seize 


prune 


pledge 
trim 


queer 
score 


odd 
notch 


lance 
rasp 


spear 
file 


quail 
rue 


sink 
plant 


stain 

1 


spot 

6 


slant 
staff 


slope 
cane 


sprue 


thrush 


brogue 


shoe 


vast 


great 



This lesson contains one hundred words, and in the Com- 
mon School Speller, instead of being together, they are dis- 
tributed into at least twenty-seven classes thus : 



Class 1, p. 


13. 


Class 5, p. 


17. 


chore 


grade 




file 




store 


haze 




Class 6, p. 


18. 


gross 


Class 2, p. 
track 


14. 


prick 
thick 




Class 8, p. 20. 
job 


stamp 
rank 




trim 
ring 




mock 
odd 


frank 
plant 
sap 




spring 

sink 

think 




scoff 
song 
stop 


Class 4, p. 


15. 


mis-t 
quit 




spot 
b otch 


pledge 




— 




notch 


swell 




Class 7, p. 


19. 


— 


melt 




^'.de 




Class 9, f . 21 


let 




hold 




fuse 


stretch 




slope 




— 



SPELLING. 



35 



Class 10, p. 21. 


Class 18, p. 25. 


Class 33, p. 30. 


duck 


fay 


boil 


dug 




join 


thrush 


Class 19, p. 25. 


— 


— 


jeer 


Cluss 35, p. 31. 


CZas5ll, p.23. 


fleer 


prune 


type 


free 


— 


gyre^ 


queer 


Class 39, p. 56. 


— 


— 


blight 


Class 13, p. 23, 


Class 20, p. 26. 


plight 


barm=^ 


bleach 




charge 


teal 


Class 53, p. 81. 


.... 


lean 


rue 


staff 


leap 


sprue=^ 


lance 


spear 


— 


blanch 


cease 


Class 54, p. 82. 


gant^ 


lease 


juice 


slant 


yeast 


— 


grant 


heave 


Class 55, p. 82. 


clasp 


leave 


stead 


rasp 


teat* 


.... 


grasp 


— 


great 


blast 


€^55 22, p.27. 


— 


vast 


yield 


Class 82, p. 175. 


— 


.... 


brogue 


Class 15, p. 24. 


seize 


— 


trail 


— 


Class 85, p. 183. 


quail 


CUss 2-7, p. 28. 


lieu 


blain 


goad 


— 


strain 


load 


Class 86, p. 188. 


stain 


poach 


cane 


twain 


— 


two 




Class 28, p. 29. 


shoe 




trow 




Gant, barm, f^y: 


re, teat, and sprue, and 


one or two other 



are not admitted into the Common School Speller ; and Rice is 
not placed, as here, under long u. The other words are 
classed by their chief characteristics, and numbered and paged 
according to the classes of the C. S. Speller, in which they 
may be found, with all the other words that resemble them and 
have the same characteristics. 

Now, in classing the 14,000 words of the Common School 



36 THE teachers' institute. 

Speller, it was only necessary to form 87 classes ; and yet the 
above lesson of only a hundred words contains nearly one third 
of all the classes needed, and, of course, the hundred words 
must be as well mixed up as any child of chaos can desire. 

I have already provided for the writing of every word in 
the spelling book, in the order of the spelling book ; but there 
is another exercise in orthography, to which I would now ask 
attention. After writing the words of the book, detached 
from all definitions, the children must be taught to use the 
words in sentences, and for this purpose I have prepared a 
book, called, " The Companion to Spelling Books, in which 
the Orthography and Meaning of many thousand words, most 
liable to be misspelled and misused, are impressed upon the 
memory by a series of exercises to be written by the pupiV^ 
In this little book is one exercise, or more, adapted to every 
lesson in the Common School Speller. All the words of the 
Speller are not introduced into the sentences ; but every word 
that is liable to be misspelled, or that needs to be explained, 
may be found there, defined, or correctly used, which is often 
the best kind of definition. 

Every teacher has felt the need of some exercise for children, 
who are sitting idle, after having learned the next lesson they 
are to recite, or from indisposition to study. As the lessons 
of the Companion are all numbered, and of moderate length, 
the teacher can prevent the pupils from ever being able to say 
with truth, that they have nothing to do. He can even pre- 
vent the necessity of their interrupting him by asking what 
they shall do next, for he has only to say to them, 
" When you have no set lesson to occupy your mind, write 
the lessons of the Companion in their order, neatly and cor- 
rectly, and place them where I can see them and correct them 
at my leisure." If the pupil cannot be trusted, he must be 
required to write a certain number of the lessons every day, 
or every week ; and the teacher, by keeping a record of what 
he corrects, or by requiring the pupil to show up what he has 
written, may easily see that the required number has been 
written. Hereafter, under the head of Neatness, I shall give 
some directions in regard to the writing and preservation of 
such exercises ; but now the object is to show the many 
advantages of these written exercises in orthography. 

A few specimens of the lessons will enable me better to 
ghow their various uses. 



SPELLING. 37 

LESSON LX. 

Class 20. — Words with EA like long E. 

Treecle is another name for molasses. Some careless 
speekers use the word learning for leeching. A weazel is a 
long-bodied animal, smaller than a cat. The teazle is a 
prickly plant, used to raise a nap on cloth. That deeler has 
a meager supply of goods. The heeling art has various 
theories. Be not squeemish or over-nice in small matters. 
Bissextile, or leepyear, is every fourth year. It was a drearey 
road for a wearey traveller. His old beever hat looked greazy. 
Bohee is usually called black tea. He was impeeched^ or 
accused of treason. Do not misleed the simple. 

LESSON XCIIL 

Class 47, continued, to show the irregularities of words 
formed from monosyllables ending in LL. 

She was handsome, and, what is better, good allso. All- 
most every person has some redeeming quality. It is allto- 
gether wrong to tease ill-tempered persons. He is skillful^ 
and expeditious loithall. The debt was paid by installments^ 
or portions. The steeple above the bellfry was blown down. 
Those we love are allways wellcome. A vMlfidl child must 
be subdued. He came not to destroy but to fulljill the law. 
The fullfillment of that prophecy is at hand. " My word 
shall distill like the dew," saith the Lord. 

LESSON C. 

Class 50. — Words beginning loith WH, which are too often 
pronounced badly, as if the H were silent. 

Wet the wetstone before you sharpen the knife. The wig 
party are not called so because they wear wigs. I wist not 
how to play the popular game of wist. Wile you live prac- 
tice no dishonest wiles. He is not a wit the better for his wit. 
The sot wines when his wine is spent. Who can tell wether 
the weather will be fair ? Wither must it be carried that it 
may not wither ? Wen will the surgeons remove that wen ? 
Were were they placed ? Witch of the witches was called 
Hecate ? 



38 THE teachers' institute. 

LESSON CCXCVI. 

Class 86. — Words misused, there being two or more words 
pro7iounced alike, but spelled differently. 

The cession of a court in England is called the assizes. It. 
is impolite to make a noise with one's chops in eating. A 
choir of paper contains twenty-four sheets. There is no choler 
to his coat. We are bound to life by many chords or ties. 
A sion of one tree was engrafted on the stock of another. 
Citizens are sometimes familiarly called sits. When a wit- 
ness is wanted, he is sited, or summoned to appear. Reading 
fine print always injures the site. Impressions of birds' 
clause have been found on rocks in Massachusetts. 

LESSON CCCVIII. 

Class 86, continued. 

He was the last of the profits. Quean Elizabeth was a 
vain woman. John Adams died at Quinsy. A good horse 
will mind the rain. B-eign is vapor condensed by cold. The 
Romans raised the walls of Jerusalem to the ground. No 
man could raze the dead unless God were with him. Some 
one wraps at the door. The jewel was rayt in cotton. The 
rising generation reed too much and think too little. '• But 
little he '11 loreck,'' or care, " if they '11 let him sleep on." It 
is base to reek vengeance on a helpless foe. 



It will be seen that the sentences are correctly written, so 
far as grammar, punctuation, capitals, &c., are concerned ; but 
one word, to which the attention of the pupil is particularly 
called, is misspelled. He will know this word by its being 
printed in Italic type. The exercise, then, is, in fact, an intro- 
duction to composition, as well as to orthography, and I 
always found that such of my pupils as had written a course 
of these exercises, were acquainted with the mechanical part 
of composition, and rarely erred in those small matters of 
which even teachers are very neglectful. 

But it has been objected to these lessons, that the spelling 
of words incorrectly may corrupt the eye of the child, which 
should never see any thing but what is as perfect as it can be 
made. I have known teachers to object to these lessons on 
this account, who had always been accustomed to the use of 
Murray's Exercises in false grammar, without perceiving any 



SPELLING. 



danger from the practice ' There is no danger. The exer- 
cise is only a test of the accuracy of the eye, which sees the 
word correctly spelled a thousand times, and then sees it 
incorrectly spelled but once. The word, if ingeniously mis- 
spelled, may for a moment puzzle the learner, but then he 
settles the question on the spot, and writes the word correctly, 
to fix it in his mind's eye. What is more common than this 
mode of teaching ? If I draw a circle to test the eye of my 
pupil, will he lose the correct idea of a circle because some 
portion of my curves are irregular? If I pronounce a word 
badly, or give a wrong inflection of the voice, to try the ear 
of my pupils, do I destroy the power of his ear correctly to 
distinguish sounds ? I have even heard this misspelling of a 
word, once in a lifetime, complained of by teachers, who 
relished the letters of Jack Downing, and similar works, 
where false orthography runs through the whole volume, and 
who yet made no complaint of the pernicious influence of 
such examples. 

I have said that no danger is to be apprehended from the 
misspelling of a word once in this manner, and I speak from 
experience. The lessons of the Companion, or similar ones, 
were used in my school for more than twenty years, and I hope 
the teachers whom I have had the happiness to meet at the 
several Institutes, will pardon me if I say that the want of 
such an exercise, in my opinion, was the chief reason of their 
appearing to such disadvantage. They lacked that critical 
discernment which my pupils acquired by writing these 
exercises themselves, and afterwards correcting the exercises 
of their feflows ; an operation which I shall presently explain. 
But, one fact of every day occurrence settles this question, I 
think, beyond any doubt. Those who have any experience 
in printing, know that the most excellent spellers in the world 
are what are called proof readers, that is, persons whose 
business it is to read the first impressions from types, before 
the book is given to the public. I never knew an author, 
whether a teacher or not, who was not indebted to th«^-se men 
for many corrections that he had overlooked. If such almost 
perfect skill is acquired by the constant search for errors, it is 
clear that no harm can arise from a word's being misspelled 
once in the course of a whole book, in which, except in that 
one instance, it is always correctly spelled. 

But, says the teacher, I have no time to correct such exer- 
cises. I pity the teacher who says this, and am half inclined 



40 THE teachers' INSTITUTE. 

to ask him, " If it will take longer to correct an exercise than 
to correct the pupil for the idleness or mischief that it might 
prevent ? " But he must find time to correct a few for his 
own benefit ; and, when he is quick at the work, and as sharp 
in detecting errors as a good teacher ought to be, he may 
easily procure assistance in the following way. After a few 
good scholars have written through the book, or even before 
they have completed the course, a new class may begin. Let 
these give their exercises to the teacher, who may pass them 
over to one of the few whom he can trust to correct them. 
When this one has done his best, let him pass them to a 
second, and he to a third, till the whole have inspected them, 
and exercised their skill in making corrections, and then, let 
them be returned to the writer. These inspectors, who are 
in fact " proof readers," will be benefited as much as the 
writer; especially if, occasionally, the teacher gives the exer- 
cises a final examination, to see how thorough his assistants 
have been in their inspection. 

The best way to use the Companion is, to require every 
pupil to have the book and write the lessons in course ; but, 
if the parents are too poor to get the book for their children, a 
case which, I am inclined to think, never exists in this happy 
country, or, if they think they are too poor, let the teacher get 
one book, and dictate a lesson from it, or write one on the 
black-board every day ; or, let some monitor write it for him, 
and then let such of the pupils as please, copy and correct it. 
If the teacher cannot afford to buy one book for the benefit of 
his school, let him send to me, and I will give him one — and 
a word of advice into the bargain. I am sick of the constant 
complaint of teachers that they cannot persuade the parents or 
the committees to furnish the necessary books or apparatus for 
their schools ; for, I believe that, if the teacher is active, and 
in earnest, the parents and committees will be so, and he may 
get almost every thing he asks for. Several young teachers 
have told me that they had changed their minds in this 
respect, for, as soon as they satisfied the committee of the 
utility of a globe, or an outline map, or a new book, a way 
was always opened to obtain it. Let my young friends try 
the experiment, and not complain until they are sure that the 
fault is not their jwn. Of old, parents, though evil, " knew 
how to give good gifts to their children," and parents, now-a- 
days, surely are not less liberal and indulgent. 

As it regards oral spelling, I need not say much. My 



SPELLING. 



41 



method in the classes was to put out the word as it should be 
pronounced, and not, as is the custom of some, improperly- 
pronounced, to indicate the letters that may not have their 
name sound in the word. The whole class pronounce after 
me, to make them attentive and to show that the word is 
understood. Then the first of the class spells the word, and if 
he spells correctly, well ; but, if incorrectly, the next tries, and 
if he spells correctly, he goes above the other, who, instead 
of having a new word, is required to spell the word by which 
he lost his place. A new word is then given ; the whole class 
pivDnounce it, and the third scholar spells it. If four, or five, 
or a dozen miss it, he who spells, goes up, and all who go 
down, separately spell the word they have missed. A new 
word is then given to the next that has not tried, and so on. 

I know it will be objected to this method that it introduces 
rank or precedence, which many think worse than ignorance ; 
but I never saw any evil arising from it, and its effect upon 
the attention and industry of the class is more than a balance 
for any imaginary evil that is said to proceed from it. This 
method enables the teacher to compel each child to take an 
equal share in the recitation ; it enables complete class-lists of 
recitations to be kept ; it saves the teacher the trouble, which 
is not trifling, of saying which shall answer ; and it saves 
about one third of the time allotted to the lesson. The usual 
method of requiring him who misses a word to take a new 
one, always seemed to me unfair and unprofitable ; — unfair, 
because it brings more new words to one pupil than to another, 
and this, too, when he is perhaps a little flurried by having 
missed; — unprofitable, because, until he who has missed a 
word spells it, you are not sure that he can spell it, and is 
benefited by having lost his place. My custom was to mark 
every word that was missed with a pencil, and then to put 
those words all out again at the end of the lesson, when I 
required them to be spelled simultaneously by the whole 
class. 

Of this simultaneous spelling, or spelling in concert, I made 
great use. Before music was introduced into schools, this 
exercise and the saying of the multiplication table were my 
substitutes. To these I frequently resorted, if I wished to 
restore order or to cheer up the scholars. As words that had 
been missed were marked in my spelling book, I generally 
selected them, and, in the course of a term, many thousand 
unportant words would be spelled by way of amusement. 
4# 



42 



THE TEACHERS INSTITUTE. 



One custom was this. However the pupils were engaged, if 
I sounded my whistle, all business was instantly suspended, 
perfect silence reigned, and all looked to me, for no one else 
was ever allowed to whistle, the bell being the ordinary instru- 
ment for giving signals. I then put out a few words to be 
spelled by all, and the pitch of my voice always regulated theirs. 
In this way I would carry them, by degrees, from a low whis- 
per to the loudest shout ; then from one extreme to the other, 
omitting the intermediate sounds. Sometimes, in the midst 
of a word that they were spelling, I would sound the whistle ; 
and as this meant that all should instantly stop, every one 
was careful to be attentive, lest he should spell a syllable 
alone after the rest had stopped. This may be called play, 
but it was useful play, and when it was over, the children 
went on with their work more cheerfully and with renewed 
vigor. 

I have often been asked whether I required my pupils, in 
spelling words, to pronounce the syllables separately. I never 
did, because it was of doubtful utility, and caused a great loss 
of time. I required a distinct pause after each syllable, but, 
as the syllables, if separate, would often be pronounced differ- 
ently from what they would be in the word, I was satisfied 
with the correct pronunciation of the word, before and after 
spelling it. This was my custom before phonography had 
led to a more careful attention to the powers of letters ; before 
any one dreamed of spelling by the power or sound, and not 
by the name of letters ; and before any attempt was made to 
teach words before letters. If I taught spelling by the sound, 
as some now propose, I should certainly pronounce each 
syllable separately, but not, if the letters to be pronounced are 
called by their names. 

Before leaving the subject of spelling, allow me to allude to 
one use that I made of the spelling book, which may be com- 
mon to other teachers, but which has not fallen under my 
observation. When the words are arranged as in the Com- 
mon School Speller, I know no better way to impress the 
rules and peculiarities of English pronunciation upon the 
learner's mind than to require him to read the lessons, that is, 
to pronounce every word of a lesson with care. Suppose, for 
instance, he had a fault of pronouncing words beginning with 
WH, as if there were no H, — a very common fault with us 
Yankees, — I should take him to the 50th class, which contains 
all the words beginning with WH, and I should make him 



SPELLING. 43 

pronounce them all in succession distinctly. If his fault was 
dropping the G at the end of words, I should turn to the' 
64th class, where, in giving directions for adding ing to verbs 
ending in E, some hundreds of examples are collected, the 
reailing of which distinctly will perhaps entirely correct the 
fault. So with words ending in ent and ence, usually mispro- 
nounced unt and unce ; the 52d class contains them all, and 
affords abundant materials for practice. I have already shown, 
under the head of Reading, that the Common School Speller 
contains the very tables that are necessary to enable the pupil 
to practise upon the fundamental sounds of the language. 

One way of imparting interest to spelling lessons was 
common when I was young, but I do not hear much of it 
now. The boys of a class were accustomed to choose sides, 
and spell against each other. Those who object to giving 
precedence in classes will probably object to this kind of 
excitement also, but this would not deter me from occasionally 
resorting to it. I have seen such spelling matches produce 
some hard thoughts, but I do not believe this is a necessary 
consequence of the competition, for I never saw it among my 
own pupils in the course of twenty years. Before commencing, 
let certain rules be agreed upon. Mine were, as nearly as I 
can recollect, the following : 

1. The lesson should be given before the sides were chosen. 

2. The words should be spelled in some certain order, as, 
from beginning to end, from end to beginning, from right to 
left across the columns, or from left to right, so as to prevent 
any selection. 

3. The word should be pronounced but once, unless the 
first speller requires it before he spells. 

4. No speller should try twice. 

5. If any speller prompts another, it must count one 
against his side. 

6. If a pupil misspells, the pupil corresponding to him on 
the other side must try ; if he spells correctly, it counts one 
for his side. If he spells incorrectly, the next on the other 
side tries, and if he gets right, he saves his side only, and 
neither party gains. 

Matches of this sort are almost the only thing respectmg 
my school days that I recollect with pleasure, and to the 
interest I took in them, probably, I owe the fact, that I was a 
good speller when I left school, although extremely ignorant 
of every thing but spelling. 

At the end of every term, I was accustomed to review all 



44 THE teachers' institute. 

my classes in every branch, and to re-class the pupils. My 
method of reviewing in orthography was this. I selected about 
one hundred words from various parts of the spelling book, 
and without letting any pupil know the words I had selected, 
I required every child to spell every one of them, where the 
others could not hear her. As I could not hear them all 
myself, I employed, as assistants, the best of those who had 
spelled to me, and I never had any reason to suppose that they 
were not as faithful to their trust as I was to mine. The 
number that each missed was recorded, and the new classifi- 
cation was based upon this, and upon the class lists, in which 
the spelling of each scholar from day to day was recorded. 
In every other branch also, in reviewing the pupils, I always 
gave the same questions to every one, taking care, of course, 
that no one should hear another answer, nor know what the 
questions were before he was called on to answer. 

The exercise of spelling, in some form or other, was never 
dropped in my school, even by the most advanced scholars. 
Every one was reviewed at the end of every term, and if 
there was any appearance of relapse, the pupil was obliged to 
spend more time than usual upon this exercise the ensuing 
quarter. Once, while I was reviewing my classes in this way, 
a young lady, aged sixteen or seventeen, who had received 
the highest honors of the public schools, and had so won the 
regard of her late teacher, that he was at great pains to 
recommend her to my particular attention, presented herself 
to be admitted as a pupil, for the purpose o{ finishing her edic- 
cation, as the common expression is. My children were 
taking a recess; and, being idle, I asked her if she would not 
like to amuse herself by spelling the sixty words that I had 
selected for the review of my scholars. She readily acqui- 
esced, and missed thirty-two of the sixty. Lest she should 
feel mortified, I made light of it, and merely remarked that I 
supposed she had not practised much of late, and if she 
would like to revive her knowledge, I could let her teach a 
small class when she was not engaged in the higher studies 
which she Vv^ished to pursue. She made no objection, and 
went home, but, not coming again, I asked her cousin why 
she was absent, and was informed that she was not coming 
any more, for her mother did not wish her to go to a school 
where they did nothing but spell ! My fidelity cost me a 
pupil, and I soon afterwards heard of her having entered 
another school, where, of course, she could " finish her educa- 
tion" without learning how to spell. 



45 



ARITHMETIC. 

Arithmetic is the all-absorbing study in the public schools 
of Massachusetts, and, probably, in those of every other state. 
As far as my observation goes, it occupies more of the time 
of our children than all other branches united. It is easy to 
see that the cause of this is the prevailing notion, that suc- 
cess in business depends upon skill in arithmetic. The 
thoroughness with which this branch is taught, is by no 
means commensurate with the importance unfortunately 
attached to it. Too much attention has evidently been paid 
to the higher parts of arithmetic, to the neglect of the very 
elements. One experiment that I made at every Teachers' 
Institute will show what I mean. So many of the teachers 
who led in the exercises of the Institutes, excelled in arith- 
metic and preferred to teach it, that I rarely touched upon it 
except to ascertain whether my fears were well founded, 
and in every instance they proved to be so. 

One would think that nothing in the world could be easier 
than for a pupil to add up a single column of figures, and 
yet, in no instance have half the teachers of an Institute, on 
an average, been able to add correctly a column that 
amounted to over two hundred. Sometimes, not one fifth of 
them could do it, taking as much time as they pleased. 
They could extract a cube root, or perform a difficult problem 
in the rule of proportion, but they had never tried a long 
column of figures, and they were unable to master one. It 
rarely happened that those who added it correctly, did so 
with any thing like despatch. Ten or fifteen minutes was 
the time I usually allowed for the addition of such a column, but 
I usually added and proved it, that is, I began at the bottom and 
added it up, and then began at the top and added downward, 
in less than one minute. Many of these young teachers 
were better mathematicians than I, but I had attended more 
to the elements, and they more to the advanced rules. Of a 
thousand teachers, I found but one that brought up the sum 
correctly added before I had proved mine, and she did so but 
once. This first experiment led me to try further, and although 
a larger proportion performed correctly a common sum in 



46 THE teachers' institute. 

addition, say, six columns of six figures each, and common 
sums in subtraction, multiplication and division, still, it was 
evident that they had not sufficiently practised these simple 
rules to do them with such despatch as I had been accus- 
tomed to see in my school, where, under monitors, the pupils 
had at least a hundred times the practice that children ever 
get under the master, in a school on the common plan. 

I early saw that the use of books was unfavorable to 
despatch, and I made it a rule not to let a child cipher from a 
book, until she was very quick, and very accurate, in what 
are called the ground rules of arithmetic. My manner of 
teaching these rules may have had something peculiar in it, 
but it was rather the amount of practice than the method, 
which gave my pupils a degree of speed and accuracy that 
sometimes astonished strangers. J recollect that once an 
awkward teacher, from a neighboring state, visited my school, 
and as he had published an arithmetic and felt strong in this 
branch, he asked me to show him an exercise in it. I called 
out a class of about twenty, and gave them a sum in simple 
multiplication of which the multiplier was 8. They did the 
operation so quickly, that my visitor thought there was some 
trick in it, and he asked if I would allow him to set them a 
sum. He began to dictate, and to write his figures on the 
black-board, which was so turned that the pupils could not see 
it ; but, his operations were so slow that the class grew impa- 
tient. He told them, at last, to multiply by 9, and, before he 
had multiplied the first two figures, some held out the sum to 
him and asked if it was right. " Stop a minute !" said he. 
As their numbers increased around him, " Stop a minute ! 
stand away ! " said he, knocking the misses with his elbows, 
" you put me out ! " I beckoned to them to form a line, and 
wait patiently. When he had done, he examined their slates 
and pronounced them all wrong, and he was evidently 
pleased at this result. But, one of them instantly went to his 
sum on the black-board, and returned, saying that she 
believed the error was in his sum. He went over it again, 
and, after a long time, discovered that it was so. I asked 
him to try them again, but he declined, and most ungraciously 
added that " the girls bothered him." They would have 
done ten such sums to his one, and made their figures ten 
times as well as his were made. He was the author of an 
arithmetic, notwithstanding, and had taught for several years. 

I do not consider that arithmetic is my forte, but the atten- 



ARITHMETIC. 47 

tion with which the few lessons I gave were received by my 
young friends at the Institutes, leads me to say a few words 
upon the elementary rules. 

In adding a single column, say the following, which I place 
horizontally to save room, but the figures of which are to be 
added as if placed in one vertical column, I found that the 
pupils had various methods. Let the column be 8, 9, 6, 7, 
9, 8, 8, 9, 6, 8, 9, 9, 8, 6, 7, 7, 9, 9, 8, 8, 7, 9, 8, 9, 7, 7, 8, 
9, 8, 4, 9, 7. 

Some cut the column into five or six parts, added the parts 
separately, and then added together their several sums. 
Some, as I dictated the figures, added each pair and set them 
down. Thus, when I said 8 and 9, they set down 17 ; 6 and 
7=13, which they set down under 17, and so on. Others, 
as I dictated the figures, set all the 8's by themselves, all the 
9's by themselves, and so with the other figures, and then 
said, 11 times 9 are 99 ; 10 times 8 are 80 ; 7 times 7 are 
49 ; 3 times 6 are IS, and once 4 is 4. Then they had to add 
the several sums to find the total, 250. One marked the tens 
thus. He took the 8, and 2 from the 9, and made a dot ; then 
he took the remaining 7 of the 9 with 3 from the 6, and made 
another dot ; the remaining 3 and the next 7 making 10, he 
made a third dot. When he had finished, he counted his dots, 
and found 25 tens. Finally, another divided the column 
into tens, but made no dots. He said thus, dividing the 
figures as he went, 8 and 2 are 10, and 7 are 17, and 3 are 
20, and 3 are 23, and 7 are 30, and so on. 

When I told them that I had no such aids, they wondered ; 
but the fact was, I had practised so much with my pupils that 
it was with addition as with the multiplication table ; when 
asked how many are 6 times 7, 1 never calculate, for 42 is so 
connected with 6 times 7, that no calculation is necessary. 
So, when one figure follows another, I know what the amount 
must be, and make no calculation. I suggested, however, 
the following plan to the teachers, and, afterwards, their 
increased despatch showed that it was of some service to 
them. I placed ten or twelve 9's in a column, and said, " If 
I add ten to 9 what is the unit figure of the product ? " 9 
said they, of course. " Well, if 9 and 10 give 9, 9 and 9 
will give one less than 9, viz., 8. So 9 and 8 will give two 
le?s than 9, viz., 7 ; and 9 and 7 will give three less than 9. 
VIZ., 6. As every one, therefore, knows what any number 
with 10 will make, let him drop 1 for 9, 2 for 8, 3 for 7, and 



48 THE teachers' institute. 

he will readily find what he wants. Thus, in adding the col- 
umn first given, say 8 and 10 would be 18, and, therefore, 8 
and 9 will be one less, or 17-)- 6 are 23 -f- 7 are 30-}- 9 are 
39 -(-10 would be 49, 8 being 2 less, makes 47 — two less 
than 7 will bring 5, and the next 8 added to 47 makes 55. 
The next 9 gives, not 65, but 64, and 6 are 70, and so on. 
There is no trouble with figures under 7, nor, indeed, with 

7 itself. To show how figures increase by the addition of 9, 

8 or 7, they should be exercised on columns all nines, or all 
eights, or all sevens. 

Of all the methods of proving a sum in addition, I have 
never found any equal to adding the figures in a direction 
contrary to that first used. If the pupil begins at the bottom, 
he should prove the sum by beginning at the top ; for this 
entirely changes the combinations, and the child will not be so 
likely to run into the same error again, as he will if he goes 
twice in the same direction. 

Another point in which children are generally deficient is 
numeration. I never set the sums for children, nor allowed 
them to copy from books, but always dictated the sum to be 
added, and required the children to write as I dictated, all 
together, if they used slates, and in turn if they stood before 
the black-board. I recollect once, that, after I had dictated a 
yum to the highest class in a school, and few or none had set 
it down correctly, the teacher, evidently distressed at their 
failure, said, " How could you mistake so, scholars, after I 
have shown you so many times ! How often I have written 
such sums on the black-board, and told you how to read 
them ! " I mildly whispered to him that the fault lay, I 
feared, in his having written the sums, instead of requiring 
the pupils to write them. 

As soon as a child began to count, she began to write fig- 
ures ; just as she began to make letters, the moment she began 
to learn them. At the top of the black-board, I chalked, or 
painted, the figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0, as well as pos- 
sible, and if the child was at a loss, she could look to the 
copy ; if she made a bad figure, I rubbed it out, and pointed 
to the copy. It was no uncommon thing at the Institutes for 
me to be obliged to ask the young teachers what their figures 
were made for. If teachers do thus, what can be expected 
from their pupils ? 

The child begins to count his fingers, beans, marbles, or 
other objects, before he is required to write the figures, but as 



ARITHMETIC. 49 

soon as he can write 1 and 2, he is required to add these 
together, and, if very small, he may mark against the figure 
as many units or ones as it represents, thus : 

1 . 

2 . 

o • • • 
4 • • • • 



10 



As soon as the column amounts to ten or over, let the teacher 
ask, how many tens and how many units are in the amount, 
and teach the pupil how to set the units under the column, 
and the tens on their left hand. He needs not to add tens 
until he has become expert in adding units ; but when it is 
necessary for him to learn numeration, let it be taught in this 
way. Write on the black-board as follows : 

Millions. Thousands. Units. 



on 05 00 

2i^ o o- o o^ o 
'H<»i2 '^wiG "^OT-S 

S5rf-t; S-C-i-i Crt"-" 

j3a3s=3 ;3ofi Sqjs: 
fflHP ffiHL) ffiH& 
0, 0, 0, 

Now give the child a single column that shall amount to 
more than ten. Let him set down the amount on the side of 
the slate. Suppose it to be 18, then ask of what is 18 com- 
posed ? One ten and eight units. What is the one ten com- 
posed of? Ten units. Then there are 8 units and 1 ten of 
units. See me write them under units of units, and tens of 
units. Give another column of figures, and do the same with 
the amount. Then, place so many sums under each other 
that they will amount to over a hundred. Suppose the sum 
to stand thus : 

5 



50 THE teachers' INSTITUTE. 

Millions. Thousands. Units. 



TO M 73 

^^^ ^^^ g^^ 

fl fH .1=; fl pj ."s S3 g .t:; 

^(pS ;:icDH ?Sa)S 

ffiHP KHP ffiHP 

00 0, 00 0, 000 

3 

4 
5 
6 

1 8 

1 9 

2 7 

3 5 

4 6 



1 4 5 



Ask the pupil now to add the column of units, and when she 
finds the amount, let her set it down in full on the side of her 
slate or black-board. Ask how many units and how many 
tens it contains, and let her set the units down, as she has 
been taught to do. Tell her she may put the tens under the 
other tens, or she may count them where they stand, and 
say, 3 tens and 4 tens, and 3 more tens, and 2 tens, and 1 ten, 
and 1 more ten, are 14 tens. Let her set down the 14 tens, 
as in the above sum, and then ask under what head does the 
1 come. Perhaps she can tell how many 14 lens are, viz., 
1 hundred and 4 tens. 

Ask how many units or single ones make 10 ? How many 
tens make 100 ? In one hundred are how many tens ? In 
fourteen how many units ? What do the 1, 4, 5 stand for ? 

To impress this decimal increase upon the mjnd, then take 
a large square piece of paper and say. This paper we will 
call a hundred. How many tens are in it ? Let us cut it 
into ten tens then. When itis so cut, take one of the pieces, 
and say this ten contains how many units ? Well, let us cut 
it into ten units. The child will see the proportion between 
units, tens and hundreds, but he will see it more distinctly, 
if the teacher cuts up several hundreds in this way, and then 



lundreds. 


Tens. 


• 


• ••• 


• • 


• •• 
•• 


• • 


• ••• 
• •• 



ARITHMETIC. 51 

lays them in piles to be added as if they were figures. Let 
us suppose such a sum to be composed thus : — 

Units. 

• • • • or 188 

• • • • 

• • • ' or 257 
• • • 

• • ' • or 278 

• • • • 

Have a few spare tens and hundreds, and then ask the child 
to count the unit-pieces of paper. When he says 23, ask 
him how many tens are in 23 ? If he says 2 tens and 3 
units, ask him to change some of his units with you for ten- 
pieces, and then ask him to lay the two ten-pieces on the 
other tens, leaving the three remaining units in a pile. Then 
let him count the ten-pieces, and when he says there are 22, 
ask him how many of them make a hundred-piece, and ex- 
change hundred-pieces with him. Tell him to lay the two 
ten-pieces that remain, in the tens' place, and to lay the two 
hundred-pieces with the other hundreds. Then let him count 
the hundreds, and say how many there are. Ask him then 
to express the hundreds, tens and units, in figures, viz., 723. 
Let him add several times in this way, and express the 
amount, or even write the whole sum in figures. When 
expert at this, give him the following : 

Thousands. Units. 



©Hundreds 
oTens of 
p Units of 


oHundreds 
oTens of 
oUnits of 




2 4 5 




5 6 8 




3 7 9 




4 5 7 



1, 6 4 9 
He can set down the units and the tens as before. When 



02 THE TEACHERS INSTITUTE. 

he comes to the hundreds, tell him to set the 6 under the 
hundreds, and the ten of hundreds, making one thousand, 
must go into the next family, under units of thousands. 

Then take a piece of paper ten times as big as a 100 piece, 
and call it a 1000 piece, that the child may see the tenfold 
increase of numbers towards the left. 

By this time, he will understand the basis of numeration, 
and a more expeditious course may be tried as follows. 
Write the nine zeros, and place them in families as before, 

Millions. Thousands. Units. 

00 0, 00 0, 000 

then ask how many figures must there be to reach to hun- 
dreds ? How many to units of thousands ? to units of mil- 
lions? Write various sums under the zeros, and ask the 
children to read them. Introduce many zeros into the sums 
you write, and teach the pupil, that, if no other figure is to 
be placed under any zero, the place must never be left vacant, 
but filled with a zero. After the pupil reads easily any num- 
ber you write, not exceeding millions, give him the chalk, 
and dictate, at first, as follows : Write three hundred and nine 
units ! Write, in the line below, three hundred and nine 
thousands! Watch for the zeros to be put under the units, 
and then say. Write three hundred and nine millions ! He wdll 
see that it is just as easy to write millions as units, if he 
recollects to place them aright. 

If then you wish to dictate a number of sums to be after- 
wards added, write the nine zeros as before, and dictate the 
following sums, waiting, after you have named the millions 
till they are written down by the pupil, and then giving the 
thousands, and waiting till they are written, before you give 
the units. 

000,000,000 
306,460,099 

87,087,807 

960,096,906 

9,009,090 

90,600,006 

756,000,010 

7,007,007 

70,070,070 
700,700,700 



4.RITHMETIC. 53 

8,808,080 

67,068,000 

964,064 

7,907 

89,000,089 

When the pupil can write the above sums without mistake, 
the zeros may be removed from over the sum, and he may 
be exercised without them ; but the teacher must be rigid in 
requiring the figures to be separated into families, and in 
requiring zeros to be inserted where no other figures come. 
If the pupil is told to write eight hundred and four thousand, 
and seventy-nine units, and writes them thus, 80479, the 
teacher must tell him to mark off his figures into families, and 
ask him if 800 thousands are in the thousands' place. Or, he 
may ask how many figures does it take to make hundreds of 
thousands ? 

Many of the teachers whom I met at the Institutes, had evi- 
dently been accustomed to copy sums from books, and unac- 
customed to write from dictation. The consequence was that 
they missed in addition, not because they did not add correctly, 
but because the sums that I dictated were incorrectly written 
down. All the subsequent rules must be made practical 
exercises in numeration, so that the place of every figure 
shall be as distinctly marked in the pupil's mind, as if it were 
written there. 

When a large class are engaged in ciphering, and are 
allowed to bring up the answer as soon as it is found, there 
will be confusion unless something like the following rule is 
observed. Let me give the rule by showing how I managed 
in such cases. 

Suppose the class contains fifty pupils. I dictate a sum for 
each to do on his slate. I always do it, and prove it, before 
any of the class bring it up ; but, if the teacher cannot do this, 
the pupils must be required to form a line, those who do it 
first being nearest to the teacher. It is better that they should 
wait for him than for him to prepare the answer beforehand, 
for he needs the practice, and should compel himself to take 
it. As soon as he is sure that his sum is right, he must look 
at the first slate ; if right number it 1, if wrong make a w,hut 
say nothing. Then look at the rest, numbering those that 
are right in their order, and marking all that are wrrong 
with w. ' 

5^ 



M THE teachers' INSTITUTE. 

The teacher must also say how long he will wait for 
answers, and he must encourage those who do the sum wrong 
to try again. No one, after joining the line to show up, must 
make or alter a figure, and, if known to do so, he must go 
behind all that are in the line. This any honest pupil will 
do, if he detects an error while waiting for examination. 
When the whole fifty have shown their slates, or when the 
allotted time has expired, if 20 is the last number that has the 
correct answer, the teacher must tell all who did the sum 
incorrectly, that is, all who are not numbered, to call them- 
selves 21. Let every scholar then write the number he has 
obtamed on one corner of his slate, and keep it there. 

Give a new sum, and mark the slates in the same manner, 
and let each pupil record the number he gets now, under the 
former number. When the lesson is over, let each pupil add 
up the numbers he has obtained, and let the teacher record 
the aggregate of each pupil on a list of names kept for the 
purpose. If he allows precedence to be taken in the class, 
the pupil whose aggregate is the least may stand first, and 
the rest according to their numbers. If the teacher needs to 
use his pupils as assistants, his class list of these exercises 
will show him the most capable. 

To be more particular. Suppose the class consists of ten 
pupils, named A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J. The least 
aggregate of any one's numbers imtst be as many as the 
number of sums done, for he cannot be less than 1. Let the 
teacher then begin at the lowest number, say 8, if eight sums 
were done, and let him call every number, from 8 onward, 
till all are placed. Suppose the pupils have been numbered 
as follows : 

A. B.C.D.E.F.G.H. I.J 



1st trial 


2 . 


4 . 


1 . 


7 . 


8.5. 


3 . 10 . 


9 . 


6 


2 " 


1 . 


3 . 


4 . 


8 . 


5.6. 


2.7. 


10 . 


9 


3 " 


2 . 


3 . 


5 . 


6 . 


7.4. 


1.9. 


8 . 


10 


4 " 


2 . 


4 . 


1 . 


7 . 


5.6. 


3 . 10 . 


9 . 


8 


5 " 


1 . 


2 . 


3 . 


8 . 


6.5. 


4.7. 


10 . 


9 


6 " 


1 . 


2 . 


4 . 


5 . 


9 . 10 . 


3.6. 


7 . 


8 


7 '« 


2 . 


1 . 


3 . 


4 . 


7 . 10 . 


5.8. 


9 . 


6 


8 " 


1 . 


3 . 


2 . 


5 . 


8.6. 


4.7. 


10 . 


9 



12 . 22 . 23 . 50 . 55 . 52 . 25 . 64 . 72 . 65 



ARITHMETIC. 



55 



The Teachers' Class List then should be ruled as follows, 
and the record of the above lesson would stand as m the first 
column below. 



A. 


|1 


|1 


12 


1 


2 


1 


2 


|1 


1 


12 


= 


14 


No. 1 1 


B. 


|2 


|3 


1 


2 


5 


2 


1 


2 


3 


3 


:^ 


24 


12 


C. 


|3 


4 


3 


3 


4 


3 


3 


4 


4 


1 


= 


32 


13 


D. 


|5 


2 


4 


5 


6 


4 


4 


3 


7 


4 


= 


44 


|4 


E. 


|7 


7 


6 


6 


5 


8 


6 


7 


6 


5 


= 


63 


|6 


F. 


|6 


8 


7 


7 


3 


10 


8 


6 


5 


7 


= 


67 


17 


G. 


|4 


5 


5 


4 


1 


9 


5 


5 


2 


6 


= 


46 


15 


H. 


|8 


|6 


10 


8 


10 


5 


10 


9 


8 


10 


^ 


84 


18 


I. 


|10 


9 


9 


9 


9 


6 


7 


10 


9 


8 


^ 


86 


19 


J. 


19 


10 


8 


10 


8 


7 


9 


|8 


10 


9 


= 


88 


|10 



If the class have ten such trials in the course of the term, 
and the above columns represent the result of each trial, then 
the aggregate at the right hand shows the relative rank of the 
class at the end of the term. I kept such a class list in 
every branch that was taught in the school, and could at any 
moment tell the relative standing of every pupil, and select 
the best assistant in any branch where one was wanted. 

When the children are ciphering on the black-board, there 
are various ways of keeping them at work. I will try to 
describe a few of them. Suppose the class to consist of six, 
and the exercise to be in addition. I first dictate one line of 
a sum to each pupil, as follows : 

3,746,389,467 
8,079,688,089 
7,680,895,496 
9,009,900,090 

7,568,785,687 
8,687,768,686 



515 

253 



The pupils stand in a semicircle around th§ board, the 



56 THE teachers' institute. 

teacher or monitor standing on the left, the head of the class 
being always on the right. 

FIRST METHOD. 

Let the first child begin, and say aloud, " 6 and 7 are 13." 
Let the next child say, " and 6 are 19 ;" the next, " and 9 
are 28 ;" and the next, " and 7 are 35." The next sets down 
5, and, if the children are very young, he sets a small 3 under 
the 5, as a guide to the next, who says, " 3 tens carried to 8 
tens make 11." Then the head begins again, and says, "11 
and 8 are 19;" the next says, "and 9 are 28;" the next, 
" and are 37 ;" the next, " and 8 are 45 ;" the next, " and 6 
are 51 ' The next sets down 1 in the tens place, and puts a 
O unr jr it. The next says, " 5 hundreds carried to 6 hun- 
dreds make 11 hundreds ;" the next says, " and 6 are 17 ;'* 
and so on until the sum is finished. 

As soon as possible, the habit of placing the number to be 
carried under the figure to be set down, must be dropped ; 
for the children will be more attentive if they have no such 
aid. 

If any one mistakes in the addition, let the next try, and go 
up, if precedence is allowed in the classes, but do not require 
the child who goes down to take a new number until his turn 
comes round again, for this will double his share of the 
work. 

SECOND BIETHOD. 

If precedence is not taken, let the teacher call on the pupils, 
not in course, to add, as in the former case, and ignorance of 
whose turn comes next will keep all attentive. This course 
gives the teacher much more trouble, however, and takes 
much more time. 

THIRD METHOD. 

Instead of saying 6 and 7 are 13, and 6 are 19, and 9 are 
28, and 7 are 35, set down 5 and carry 3 — let the first child 
say, 13 ; the next, 19 ; the next, 28 ; the next, 35. Let the 
next set down 5, and the next, taking the next column, say 
11 ; the next 19 ; the next 28 ; and so on to the end. 

FOURTH BIETHOD. 

Let the first pupil, or one designated by the teacher, add 
the whole first column silently, and, only telling the amount 



ARITHMETIC. 57 

aloud, let him set down 5. Let another take the second 
column, and, declaring the amount aloud, let him set down 1. 
Let a third take the third column, and declare, and set down; 
and so on to the end. 

FIFTH METHOD. 

This method is called the silent method, and is useful when 
the teacher is engaged with a class, and wishes to keep the 
rest employed so as not to be interrupted by their noise. 

The monitor stands with a sponge. The first pupil adds 
the first column silently, and sets down the result without 
saying a word. If correct, the monitor nods assent ; if wrong, 
he rubs out the figure and says nothing. The next child 
then writes the am.ount as he made it ; if right, it stands ; if 
wrong, the monitor erases it. Not a word is spoken. If, 
when one has missed, the next is not ready to write, those 
below him who are ready, hold up the right hand, and the 
monitor points to the next highest to go to the board, and, if 
right, to go above both the one who missed, and the one, or 
more, that were not ready to correct him. 

SIXTH METHOD. 

This is the most animating, and resembles the fifth method, 
except that each pupil is furnished with a piece of chalk, and 
is at liberty to go and write down the amount of the column 
as fast as he can add it up. As this leads to great activity 
and a lively competition, the monitor or teacher must be very 
expert in the exercise, prompt in erasing errors, and careful 
to see fair play. If the pupils are seated in front of the 
board, no one should be allowed to write the amount of a col- 
umn unless he goes from his seat to do it. Of course, after 
writing a figure, right or wrong, the pupil must take his seat 
before he tries again. If there are no seats for the pupils, so 
much the better. Let a semicircle be chalked in front of the 
board, and let the rule be that no one not toeing the circle, 
shall be allowed to write. Of course, every one that writes 
on the board goes to his place before he tries again. 

If the teacher wishes to know how many columns are 
added by each scholar, he has only to lay a few counters 
under the board, and let each pupil who adds correctly, take 
one, and keep what he gets till the end of the lesson, when 
the number obtained by each may be recorded, and the rank 
of each assigned, if it be the custom of the school. Some- 



58 THE teachers' institute. 

times, when the scholars are very quick at figures, several 
will rush towards the board at a time, and the master or mon- 
itor being, of course, very active, the scene is very interesting, 
and faintly resembles the scenes in the Scotch schoolrooms, 
so graphically described by Mr. Mann and others. 

In describing these methods, I have confined myself to 
addition, but the teacher will perceive that the other rules 
may be taught in the same manner, and it is unnecessary for 
me to give any examples. I do not know that these methods 
are peculiar to me. They are some of the many that I prac- 
tised years ago, for I always endeavored to have a variety of 
methods, that the interest of the pupils might never flag. I 
even went so far as, once or twice a year, to alter the position 
of the seats, which were movable. My own desk, too, was 
wheeled by turns to every side of the schoolroom, and in 
this way all the interest excited by a new schoolroom was 
kept up in an old one. While thus shifting about, we once 
tried what is supposed to be a new plan, that of placing the 
teacher's desk behind the children, and after a fair experi- 
ment, I gave it up as having few benefits and many disad- 
vantages. 

In teaching Subtraction, I had very little, probably, that is 
not now common in the schools. The only method that I 
have not seen in any school is the following, which I learned 
from a German, twenty years ago. Suppose I am required 
to take the lower line of the following sum from the upper. 

706,145,832 
73,854,735 



In teaching on the old plan I used to say, " Take 5 units 
from 2 units I can't. Borrow 1 ten from the 3 tens, and 
turn it into units, and add them to the 2 units, and say 5 
units from the 12 units leave 7 units. Then, as I borrowed 
1 ten and did not take it, the upper 3 is 1 more than it ought 
to be, and adding 1 to the 3 below and calling it 4, will be 
the same as if I changed the upper 3 into a 2 and let the 
lower 3 stand as it is. One I carry^ then to the lower 3 

* I use the term carry, but it is an incorrect term, because I really carry- 
nothing from one figure to the next. When a column of units amounts to 
ten, I set down the units and really carry the tens to the column of tens ; but, 
in subtraction, the operation is slicing- or i,jpposinsr, rather than carrying:. 
I have used the word sum also for operation, example, problem, &c., because 
the word is short and well luiderslood, but it.s true meaning is amount. 



ARITHMETIC. Sd 

makes 4 of it, and I say, Take 4 tens from 3 tens I can't. 
I borrow 1 hundred from the 8 hundreds, and, as 1 hun- 
dred is 10 tens, I add the 10 tens to the 3 tens, and say 4 tens 
from 13 tens leave 9 tens. Set 9 under the 3, and, as before, 
call the 7, 8, because when you borrowed 1 hundred from 
the 8 you did not take it away. It will be then 8 hundreds 
from 8 hundreds leave no hundreds ; set down zero under the 
7, and proceed to the thousands place," and so on. 

If the teacher pleases, he can occasionally allow the pupil, 
when he borrows 1, to take it from the Upper figure and 
change it. But this is often a more intricate operation than 
that I have described ; for if the next upper place is occupied 
by a zero, nothing can be borrowed, and the next must be 
asked for a loan. Thus, in subtracting 1 unit from 1 thou- 
sand, the operation is as follows : — 



Take 1 unit from no units, I cannot. Borrow 1 ten from no 
tens, I cannot. Borrow 1 unit from no hundreds, I cannot. 
Borrow 1 unit from 1 thousand units I can ; and this brings us 
to the starting point again, so that, after borrowing like a 
loafer, I am no better off than when I began. Still it is well 
to borrow, and alter a few sums, to show what is meant by 
carrying. 

3,461,034 
896,458 

2^4^ 

By the old method of carrying, the sum would stand as above ; 
but, if, when I borrowed from the upper figures, I had taken 
what I borrowed, the upper line would stand thus after the 
operation. 

2,350,924 
896,458 



2,564,576 



The upper line is so altered by this process that it cannot 
be recognized ; and, as the figures now stand, the sum can- 
not be proved in the old way, by adding the smaller sum and 
the remainder together to equal the larger sum. It is often 



60 THE teachers' INSTITUTE. 

usefulandnecessary to preserve the figures of the larger sum, 
and it causes some trouble to restore them after the above 
transformation. 

The German method to which I have alluded, does sub- 
traction by addition. 

3,461,034 
896,458 



In doing the above sum, I say to the first pupil, 8 and how 
many make 14 ? 6, he says, and sets 6 under the 8. As in 
addition, with which the child is acquainted, 1 must be 
carried for 14. Then say, 1 carried to 5 makes 6, and 6 
and how many make 13 ? 7, says the child. Then set 7 
under the 5, and carry 1 to the 4, saying, 1 and 4 are 5, and 
5 and how many make 10 ? 5, says the child. Then set 5 
under the 4, carry 1 to the 6, and so continue till the work is 
completed. As, at last, 1 will be carried to the vacant place 
of millions, the question will be, 1 and how many make 3 ? 
Set down the 2, and the sum is done. 

My pupils have more readily fallen into this method than 
into the old one, and one method of applying it is very 
popular, especially in the silent exercise on the black-board. 
Suppose I am worth 375,484 dollars, and owe to several per- 
sons the following sums : 38,654 dollars ; 87,263 dollars ; 
74,269 dollars ; 69,745 dollars ; and 80,676 dollars ; required 
how much I shall have left after paying these debts. 

375,484 Minuend. 



38,654^ 

87,268 

74,269 

69,745 

80,676 



Subtrahend. 



S24,872 Remainder. 



I begin with the right hand column, and say, 6, 11, 20, 28, 
32, and 2 make 34. I add as many tens as will make the top 
sum more than the amount of the column, artd then what I 
must add to make the sums equal is what I must set under 
the column. Carry, as in addition, one for every ten. The 
first column amounting to 32, 1 borrow three tens and call the 



ARITHMETIC. 61 

4 over the column 34, and, of course, the column of 32 needs 
2 to make it 34. 

Then I carry 3, and say, 3, 10, 14, 20, 26, 31, and 7 are 
38 ; set down 7, and carry 3 ; — and so on to the end. 

The Germans, I am told, carry this method of Subtraction 
into Long Division also, and as it is a good exercise of the 
arithmetical memory, I will give a specimen. 

7948 ) 54607.6845 ( 68,706 
~6919.6 
5612B 



492.45 
T557" 



I say 6 times 8 are 48, and 9 are 57. I set the 9 under the 
7, and go on, remembering that I have 5 to carry. 6 times 4 
are 24, and 5 to carry are 29, and 1 makes 30. Set down 1 
and carry 3. 6 times 9 are 54, and 3 to carry are 57, and 9 
are 66. Set down 9 and carry 6. 6 times 7 are 42, and 6 to 
carry are 48, and 6 are 54. Set down 6. 6919 is the 
remainder after the multiplication and subtraction. Then 
bring down the 6, and muhiply by 8, &c. This method saves 
the making of 20 figures. The dots are used merely to show 
what figures are brought down. 

It was the custom of my classes to do twenty or thirty sums 
in Subtraction in half an hour, and the difference between this 
amount of practice and that I obtained when at school, is 
somewhat remarkable. My teacher was so aged that, to my 
boyish mind, he divided the whole course of time with Methu- 
selah. He wore a white wig, on the back of which the boys 
sometimes lodged chips and quill-tops. His vest was long, 
with pocket flaps that half covered his thighs. He wore 
breeches, white stockings, and shoes with large buckles. I 
never heard a word against his character, for he had none, 
and was so harmless that I can almost forgive the School 
Committee of Boston, who kept him in office a quarter of a 
century after he had become unable to do the duties of a 
master of this double-headed school of about 500 boys and 
girls. No boy had a printed Arithmetic, but, every other day, 
a sum or two was set in each manuscript, to be ciphered on 
the slate, shown up, and, if right, cop ed into the manuscript. 
6 



62 THE teachers' institute. 

Two sums were all that were allowed in Subtraction, and 
this number was probably as many as the good man could set 
for each boy. This ciphering occupied two hours, or rather 
consumed two, and the other hour was employed in writing 
one page in a copy-book. Once, when I had done my two 
sums in Subtraction, and set them in my book, and been idle 
an hour, I ventured to go to the master's desk and ask him to 
be so good as to set me another sum. His amazement at my 
audacity was equal to that of the almshouse steward when 
the half-starved Oliver Twist " asked for more." He looked 
at me, twitched my manuscript towards him, and said, guttu- 
rally, " Eh ! you gnarly wretch, you are never satisfied ! " I 
had never made such a request before, nor did I ever make 
another afterwards. On the black-board, which was unknown 
in those days, a pupil may now get more practice in one hour 
than I got in one month. 

In teaching Multiplication, I had no method that I have not 
seen in good schools of the present day. The Table was 
taught usually before the child began to cipher, for it was said 
and sung by the whole school for recreation, and the little 
children caught it from the older pupils before they were 
required to use it- If, however, a new scholar wished to 
learn it, she practised multiplying by 2 on the black-board till 
she knew the line ; then she took 8 times until this was famil- 
iar. She was required too to rule 144 squares upon her slate, 
or on paper, and make Table after Table for herself without 
any guide or assistance. 

It may be of use, however, for the child to know that he 
may begin to multiply on the left as well as on the right, and 
that Multiplication may be made Addition. Thus, if I wish 
to find 8 times 9678, I may do it in the old way from right to 
left : 

9678 or 

8 



77,424 64 

560 

4800 

72000 

7774"i4 



ARITHMETIC. 



63 



Or I may do it from left to right, thus : 

9,678 

8 



72,000 

4,800 

560 

64 

77,424 



I say 8 times 9 thousand are 72 thousand, and I set down 
the whole amount. Then 8 times 6 hundred are 48 hundred, 
and set down the whole. 8 times 7 tens are 56 tens ; and 8 
times 8 units are 64 units. There is clearly a loss of time in 
this manner, but to a beginner it may communicate a clear 
idea of the contracted form in which the operation is usually 
performed. 

Finally, the child may write the sum eight times, and add 
the sums together. 

In Division the children must be required, at first certainly, 
if not always, to explain the common method by a process like 
the following : 



6 ) 674,352 
112,392 



6 ) 674,352 



600,000 


100,000 


70,000 


10,000 


14,000 


2,000 


2300 


300 


550 


90 


12 


2 



112,392 

That is, instead of saying 6 is contained in 6 once, let the pu- 
pil say, 6 is contained in 6 hundred thousand 1 hundred thou- 
sand times. 6 is contained in 7 ten thousands 1 ten thousand 
times, and 1 ten thousand over. 1 ten thousand is 10 unit 
thousands, and 4 more unit thousands make 14 unit thousands, 
in which 6 is contained 2 thousand times, and 2 unit thousands 
over. 2 thousands are 20 hundreds, and 3 are 23 hundreds, 
in which 6 is contained 300 times and 5 hundreds over. 5 
hundreds are 50 tens, and 5 are 5>o tens, in which 6 js con- 



64 THE teachers' institute. 

tained 9 tens of times and 1 ten over. 1 ten is ten units, and 
2 units are 12 units, in which 6 is contained 2 units times. 

I always found Long Division a more diflicult operation to 
children than any other portion of the elementary rules, and 
some of my methods of explaining it may not be useless to 
young teachers, who should try to have more ways than one. 

One way was to do Short Division long fashion, to show 
that there is no difference in the manner, but only in the 
difficulty of carrying the remainders in the mind. Thus the 
sum first explained : 





6 ) 674,352 
112,392 




lone at length, and not in the mind 


, will appear thus : 


6)674,352(112,392 
6 


or thus : — 


6)674,352(112,392 
600,000 


"t" 

6 
12 




74,352 

60,000 

14,352 

12,000 


23 

18 




2,352 

1,800 


55 
54 




552 
540 


12 
12 




12 
12 



But the child soon learns how to multiply and subtract, and 
is only puzzled to know how many times the divisor will 
go, as the old term was, that is, how many times it is con- 
tained in the dividend, or a portion of the dividend. The 
rule for this is so simple that I should not waste a word on it, 
had I not discovered at the Institutes, that many young teach- 
ers have no rule but to try till the remainder comes less than 
the divisor. Let us take the following rule, viz. : " If the 
figures of the divisor amount to more than an equal number of 
figures in the dividend, one more figure of the dividend must 
be takeia. Then see how many times the first figure of the 



ARITHMETIC. 65 

divisor is contained in the first two of the dividend, and this 
will generally give the right number of times for the whole 
sum, if the second figure of the divisor is less than 5. If it is 
more than 5, suppose the first figure of the divisor to be one 
more than it is, and then see how many times the supposed 
figure is contained in the first two of the dividend. Let us 
try this rule. 

First with the 2d figure less than 5. 

6294 ) 88469687 ( 14056 
6 is in 8, once. 6294 

25529 
6 is in 25, 4 times. 25176 



6 is in 3 no times. 35368 

6 is in 35, 5 times. 31470 



38987 
6 is in 38, 6 times. 37764 



1223 

Next with the 2d figure more than 5. 



78 
8 in 60, 7 times. 


46] 

9 


) 60298749 ( 7685 
54922 • • • 


8 in 53, 6 times. 
8 in 66, 8 times. 


53767 
47076 

66914 
62768 


8 in 41, 5 times. 


41469 
39230 



2239 



This rule will not always succeed so invariably, but it will 
always come so near that the true number can be seen with- 
out further guessing. 

The teacher, however, may always be certain, if, when he 
has any doubt of the rule, he multiplies the two first figures 
6# 



66 THE teachers' institiwe. , 

of the divisor to see whether what he has to carry vill 
exceed the figures in the dividend. For example, take the 
following. 

657489)6473291476(9 

The second figure being neither more nor less than 5, it 
will not do to rely upon calling the first 7 or 6. 6 would be 
contained in 64, 10 times, and 7 would be contained 9 times. 
Is 9 right ? Multiply the 6 and 5 of the divisor by 9, in the 
mind, and see if it exceeds the 647 of the dividend. 585 
being less, the probability is that the whole 6 figures of the 
divisor will go into the first 7 figures of the dividend. Again, 
try the following : 

89694 ) 8109687876 ( 

Call 8, 9, and will it be contained 9 times in 81 ? The 
answer is, certainly ; because, if 9 is contained, any number 
less than 9, even 8y^^, must be. But suppose the sum were^ 

89694)8,009,687,876(8 

will 9 be contained 9 times, or only 8 times, in the 80 ? Try 
the first two figures by 9. Nine times 89 are 801, which is 
more than the eight hundred of the dividend, and you may be 
sure 9 is too many, and 8 just enough. 

A few dozen sums done by the class on a black-board, will 
make quite small pupils familiar with this rule, and will save 
them from a deal of trouble 

The pupils must at first be taught what to call the figures 
of the quotient. For instance, when they find, as in the last 
example, that 89,694 is contained 8 times in 800968, the 
question must be settled whether the 8 in the quotient is 8 
units, 8 tens, 8 hundreds, or what it is. The rule is easy ; 
the 8 is whatever the last figure of that portion of the divi- 
dend used to produce it is. 800968 is used, and the first 
figure of the quotient is the same as the right hand 8, and 
this is tens of thousands. The pupil may then know that the 
quotient must contain five figures, or it cannot be right. I 
have sometimes required the pupil, in such cases, to set down 
zeros at the right hand of the first figure in the quotient, and 
rub them out and supply others as the sum proceeded. This 
will prevent his omitting to place zeros in the quotient when 



ARITHMETIC. 67 

a figure has been brought down to the previous remainder, 
and the amount is not great enough to contain the divisor. 

89694) 8,009,687,876 (80000 
717 552 93 



834167 89,300 times. 

807246 



269218 
269082 



13676 

The only other point of arithmetic to which I shall call the 
attention of the young teacher, is a method of explaining what 
are called Compound Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication and 
Division. I once passed one of my classes, and found the mon- 
itor playing, as I supposed, instead of teaching her class in 
Compound Division. On inquiry, however, I found that she 
had been unable to make the class fully comprehend the opera- 
tion, and she had adopted a plan not unlike that I have pro- 
posed for showing the increase of figures from right to left in 
decimal arithmetic. 

She had taken large square pieces of paper which she 
called pounds. She had cut some of these into 20 pieces 
called shillings, some of the shillings into 12 parts called 
pence, and some of the pence into 4 parts called farthings. 
She had then chalked a sum on the black-board thus : — 

£. s. d. q. 

2)3. 15. 6. 2 



1. 17. 



and she had placed 3 of the pieces representing pounds in 
one pile, 15 of the shilling pieces in another pile, 6 of the 
penny pieces in another, and 2 of the farthing pieces on 
the right of the other piles. Then she had begun to divide 
by 2, and had placed 1 pound piece under the 3. The 
pound piece that remained she cut up into 20 pieces, and 
added them to the 15. Then she placed 17 of the pieces 
under the shilling place. The odd shilling she cut into 12 
penny pieces, which she added to the 5, making 17. Then 
she divided by 2, putting 8 pieces in the pence place. The 
odd penny she carried to farthings by cutting it up, and then 



68 THE teachers' institute. 

dividing the 6 farthings by 2, she placed three farthing 
pieces in their proper order. 

She then performed the same sum on the black-board, and 
compared the results. This was done by a monitor under 
fourteen years of age, who had never seen or heard of any 
such method of explanation ; and it may well put to shame 
some teachers who have ventured to say that monitors cannot 
teach. I saw at once the simplicity of the illustration and 
immediately had suitable pieces of pasteboard prepared, not 
only to illustrate Compound Division, but Addition, Subtrac- 
tion, Multiplication and Reduction ascending and descending, 
as the two operations are called. I had also a set of blocks 
to explain solid or cubic measure. 

All such apparatus the teacher can get without expense, if 
he is as expert at whittling as a Yankee ought to be to uphold 
the national character. 



MENTAL ARITHMETIC. 

In Mental Arithmetic I did less at the Institutes than in 
written arithmetic, for the reason that other teachers preferred 
to devote themselves to arithmetic, and to me all branches 
were equally agreeable. It was my custom very early to 
introduce my pupils to this study, because it afforded relief to 
their minds, and, oftentimes, quiet and innocent amusement. 
It is hardly necessary for me to explain at large my course 
with beginners ; for the Child's Arithmetic contains my plan, 
and has been recommended to teachers by Mr. Palmer in his 
Teacher's Manual, and by the authors of the School and 
Schoolmaster. The leading feature of the plan is the constant 
illustration of every elementary principle by the use of sensi- 
ble objects. It contains full exercise for children from three 
to seven years of age, and, although primarily intended to be 
an introduction to Colburn's First Lessons, it is well fitted to 
precede any arithmetic that is fit to be used at the present 
day. 

After the child is familiar with this little book, he will be 
prepared to relish those more advanced; and, in teaching 
these, the same system of illustration must be continued, 
whether the book provides for it or not. If the pupil has 
been properly taught the Child's Arithmetic, he will have a 
clear idea of the elements of calculation, will be accustomed 



ARITHMETIC. 69 

to reason clearly, and to exercise his mind without distraction 
upon more difficult problems. By all means, oblige him to 
perform the calculations mentally, and without the aid of the 
book. It is not many years since a convention of teachers, in 
one of the counties of this state, were astonished at the 
unreasonableness of a gentleman, who required them to close 
their books, and to keep them closed, while he proposed a 
question for them to solve. 

I shall not describe the various methods pursued by 
myself or others in teaching mental arithmetic, but shall 
content myself with giving an example or two as I have seen 
them performed by my friend William Clough, one of the most 
thorough teachers of this beautiful science that I have ever 
known, who lately taught one of our State Normal Schools, 
and is now Principal of an Academy at St. Charles, in the 
State of Missouri. 

The peculiarity of his method of teaching is, that he 
requires the reason of every step to be more distinctly stated 
than usual, and he is careful to introduce many incidental 
questions that arise during the solution. 

Suppose, then, the question to be the first in Colburn's 
First Lessons, p. 81, Letter B. " Four fifths of fifteen is six 
tenths of how many thirds of twenty-one ? " 

The pupil says, " Two and f thirds of 21 ;" and then proves 
the answer as follows : " One fifth of 15 is 3 ; — four fifths of 
15 are four times as much, and 4 times 3 are 12. — If 12 be 
six tenths of some number, one sixth of 12 must be one 
tenth of the same number, because one tenth of any number 
is one sixth of 6 tenths of that number. One sixth of 12 is 
2, and 2 is the tenth of ten times 2, which is 20. — One third 
of 21 is 7, and 7 is contained in 20 two and six sevenths 
times. Therefore, 4 fifths of 15 is 6 tenths of two and six 
sevenths thirds of 21." 

Among the incidental questions asked would, perhaps, be 
the following. " You say \ of 15 is 3, — how do you know 
this ? " or, " Can you prove this ? " The pupil says, " A fifth of 
15 is fifteen times as much as a fifth of 1, — 15 times one 
fifth of 1 is 15 fifths of 1 ; — 5 fifths of 1 make 1 ; and if 5 
fifths of 1 make 1, 15 fifths of 1 will make as many ones as 
5 fifths of one are contained times in 15 fifths of 1 — 5 fifths 
of 1 are contained in 15 fifths of 1 three times ; therefore, one 
fifth of 15 is 3." 

Again, "You say 2 is the tenth of 10 times 2 ; how do you 



70 THE teachers' INSTITUTE. 

know this ? " The pupil replies, " 2 is the same as one time 
2, and one time 2 is the tenth of 10 times 2 ; therefore, 2 is 
the tenth of 10 times 2." 

This is an abstract question, and I am not sure that it is 
the best I could have selected ; I will endeavor, therefore, to 
give an example of what Colburn terms a concrete question. 
First Lessons, page 78, Question 19. 

2. If 4 men can do a piece of work in 8 days, how many 
men would it take to do the same work in 4 days ? 

The pupil says, *' 8 men ; — for if 4 men can do the work in 
8 days, it will take 8 times as many men to do it in 1 day, 
because 1 day is an eighth of 8 days, and the less the number 
of days the more men it will require to do the work. One 
eighth of the number of days takes 8 times the number of 
men. 8 times 4 men are 32 men ; therefore, if 4 men can do 
a piece of work in 8 days, it will take 32 men to do the same 
work in one day. If 1 day require 32 men to do the work, 4 
days will require one fourth as many men to do the same 
work, because the more days there are, the fewer men will 
be required; — 4 times the number of days will require one 
fourth the number of men ; — one fourth of 32 men is 8 men : 
— therefore, if 4 men can do a piece of work in 8 days, it 
will take 8 men to do the work in 4 days." 

3. Page 102, Question 39. "A man bought six sevenths 
of a cask of raisins for five dollars ; what was the whole cask 
worth?" 

The pupil says, " Five dollars and five sixths of a dollar." 
If the man bought six sevenths of a cask for 5 dollars, he 
bought one seventh of a cask of raisins for one sixth of five 
dollars, or for one sixth as much ; because, one seventh of a 
cask is one sixth of six sevenths of the cask, and the less the 
quantity of raisins he bought, the less the money they cost ; 
or, the less the number of sevenths of a cask he bought, the 
less the number of dollars they cost, — |- of the quantity of 
raisins, ^ of the money they cost — ^ of 5 dollars is |- of 1 
dollar, — therefore, if a man bought f of a cask of raisins for 
5 dollars, he bought -f of the cask for f of a dollar. If he 
bought -^ of a cask for | of a dollar, he bought ^ of a whole 
cask for seven times as much, because the greater the quan- 
tity of raisins he bought, the more money they cost. 7 times 5 
sixths of a dollar are 35 sixths of a dollar, which is equal to 5 
dollars and f of a dollar. Therefore, if a man bought f of a 
cask of raisins for 5 dollars, the whole cask was worth 5 dol- 
lars and I of a dollar. 



ARITHMETIC. 71 

The incidental questions might be, " How do you know . 
that I of 5 dollars is f of 1 dollar ? How do you know that 
35 sixths of a dollar are equal to $5 and | of a dollar ? " 

4. Page 103, Question 46. " 12 is |- of what number ? " 
The pupil says, "8f. If 12 be ^ of some number, | of 12 
must be ^ of the number, because ^ of any number is •} of ^ 
of that number; } of 12 is -y- of 1 — if 4^ of 1 be I of 
some number, f , or the whole of that number, must be 5 times 
as much — 5 times 12 sevenths are 60 sevenths, which is 
equal to 8f — therefore, 12 is I of 8f." Several incidental or 
review questions would also be put. 

5th. Page 105, Question 13. How many yards of cloth 
that is three quarters wide are equal to 7 yards of cloth that 
is five quarters wide?" The pupil says " llf yards. If 5 
quarters width require 7 yards in length, 1 quarter wide will 
require 5 times as many yards in length; — because 1 quarter 
wide is ^ of 5 quarters wide, and the less the width the 
greater the length — | of the width, 5 times the length — 5 
times 7 yards are 35 yards; — therefore, if 5 quarters wide 
require 7 yards in length, 1 quarter wide will require 35 
yards in length ; if 1 quarter wide require 35 yards in length, 
3 quarters wide will require ^ of that length, because the 
greater the width, the less the length, — 3 times the width, -^ 
the length; — -^ of 35 yards is llf yards; — therefore, 11§ 
yards of cloth that is 3 quarters wide are equal to 7 yards 
that is 5 quarters wide." 

This must suffice for arithmetic ; and I shall say nothing 
of algebra, because I did not teach it at the Institutes, and, in 
my opinion, it ought never to be taught in the common 
schools. I shall never forget one occasion when some of Mr. 
Clough's pupils, who had never studied algebra, but who had 
been well instructed in Colburn's First Lessons, had a contest 
with some young teachers who had studied algebra, Tower's 
Intellectual Algebra furnishing the problems. The arithme- 
ticians solved the questions by arithmetic in one fourth of the 
time required by the algebraists, and, except in quadratic 
equations, this disparity was kept up with ease. If it fell within 
the scope of this volume, I should more at large consider the 
popular error of introducing algebra into common schools of 
boys, and the all but folly of teaching it, in any school, to 
girls. I do not call in question the ability of the females to 
learn algebra, but the utility, and, of course, the policy, of 
teaching them what they will never use. 



72 THE teachers' institute. 

Let me add that if any young teacher wishes to see arith- 
metic, algebra, and mathematics taught as they should be 
taught, he cannot do better than to visit either of our normal 
schools ; for, so different is the manner of teaching at these 
schools from the manner prevalent in the districts, that one 
who has often visited them can tell a normal pupil, by his 
management, about as readily as he can tell a veteran from a . 
raw recruit. 

Besides the usual method of proposing the question to the 
whole class, waiting a reasonable time, and then selecting 
some pupil to give the answer, and explain the process by 
which he arrived at it, I had another method, which, on some 
occasions, was very useful. 

Every pupil was furnished with a slip of paper, about four 
inches by one. The question was given distinctly to the 
whole class ; each scholar set the answer at the top of her slip 
of paper, and brought it, and laid it upon my book. If the 
answer was right, it was numbered from one onward; if 
wrong, I marked lo against it, and she could try again, if 
there was time. To prevent confusion, only one showed her 
paper at a time, the rest forming a line, and giving up in turn. 
If any failed to get right, they were all numbered alike, the 
next after the last who gave the answer correctly. Nothing 
but the answer was allowed to be written on the paper. 

At the end of the lesson, the pupil's name was written at 
the bottom of her answers, and the slip of paper furnished 
materials for the class record. In this way, every child had 
to do the work; and if any one who did not answer cor- 
rectly requested an explanation, I designated some one who 
had obtained a number, to explain, — and sometimes several 
were called on, until some one made the process intelligible 
to the pupil who called for the explanation. This method I 
used much for practice, after a principle had been explained. 
Every pupil stood during the lesson ; and as all were obliged 
to walk, the exercise afforded relief after confinement at any 
lesson that did not admit of such locomotion. If I do not 
forget it, I shall hereafter have more to say on the utility of 
standing and moving, as far as it can be done without con- 
fusion, during recitations. 



73 



WRITING. 

When I first became a teacher, writing was an affair alto- 
gether different from what it is now. Metallic pens had not 
been introduced, and more than half the business of a writing- 
master was the making and mending of pens. After enduring 
this task one week, seeing that it made a slave of me, I called 
about twenty of the best pupils around me, furnished each 
with a knife, if he or she had none, and then made several 
pens before their eyes, explaining every part of the process. 
Then, each took a quill and cut just as fast as I did, waiting 
at every step to have the work inspected. When the pens 
were made, I tried each one, pointed out its defects to the 
whole class, and then showed them how to mend it. I then 
promised a reward to every pupil who made his own pens for 
a week; and that they might have practice, I told them I 
should never make another pen for any of them. I never had 
occasion to make one afterwards ; but, from that time forward, 
I had pupils enough who could make as good pens as I could, 
and who made for the smaller children, and for their families 
at home. 

Once, at least, in a term, I instituted a reward for the best 
pen. Let it not be supposed, however, that I selected one pen 
and gave a prize only to that ; I could not be guilty of such 
injustice. My rule in this exercise, and in all others^ was to 
reward all in proportion to their deserts. If there were ten 
bests, all fared alike, and the poorest, if at all deserving, had 
all that he deserved. If in any district school the goosequill 
is still used, I recommend to the teacher to try a similar course ; 
and, if there is no other way to supply knives, let him buy 
two or three, and keep them to lend for this purpose, and for 
no other. 

The course of teaching that I had adopted led me to see, at 
an early stage, that I must make every pupil learn to v^rrite, 
and that I could do this better, and in much less time, if I 
qualified myself to teach them. To compel myself to practise, 
I set all the copies for a long time, and never used what are 
called coppei-plate slips. When some of my pupils became 
'' 7 



74 THE teachers' institute. 

good writers, I obliged them to set copies for the beginners, 
but, to the last, I always set all the copies for my best writers 
and assistants, and inspected all the copies set by the assist- 
ants. The only system of penmanship that I used was the 
very simple one to which I have alluded under the head of 
Spelling, and this I shall now attempt to explain somewhat 
more in detail. 

Right against the wall, back of my desk, and in full view 
of the whole school, was a long black-board, about ten feet by 
eighteen inches, ruled like the specimen that follows : 



The lines were cut into the board before it was painted, and, 
although the board was used constantly for seventeen years, 
the lines were sufficiently distinct to the last, and the board 
needed to be repainted only two or three times, and this work 
I did myself. I mention this fact, not to imply that my patrons 
were unwilling to pay for the painting, but because T put on a 
better coat than the painter would have done. I have often 
been told by young teachers thai iliey should like black-boards, 
but the committee would not procure any. I have no respect 
for such teachers, for one who cannot get a wide board, and 
plane it, and paint it, has not ingenuity enough to be intrusted 
with a school. Besides, I do not believe there is a town in 
Massachusetts whose carpenters and painters are so mean 
that they will not aid the district teacher in getting up as many 
black-boards as he wants. While I was teaching at some of 
the Institutes, I showed the teachers how to paint diagrams 
on cloth, and when I found the village painter, and told him 
what I wanted, and why I wanted, brushes, pots and paints 
were placed at my dispo?;al, and, in every case, compensation 
was refused. The char^re that committees wili not furnish 



WRITING. 75 

black-boards cannot be well founded, except, perhaps, in cases 
where the committee have no confidence in the ability of the 
teacher to make any good use of them. But I maintain that 
the teacher, if he is fit to teach, is independent of the com- 
mittee in regard to black-boards, and can make them himself 
without much trouble or expense. 

Get a long black-board, then, and rule it as I have directed. 
The carpenters have a fbol made on purpose to cut the lines 
into the board, but if such a tool cannot be obtained, the lines 
may be ruled with a chalk-line, and scratched in with a saw, 
'or cut in with a penknife. They may be painted white on 
a black ground, but the writing never looks so well over white 
lines. 

After the board is prepared, let every child have a slate, and 
let every slate be ruled exactly like the board. The teacher 
can do the ruling with a dull penknife or any sharp pointed 
iron. The marks, after a day or two's use, will not mar the 
writing, and, as only one side of the slate is ruled, work that 
does not require ruling may be done on the other. Three or 
four sets of lines can be marked on the slate, and the pattern 
just given is about the best in regard to size. 

The distance between the lines 1 and 2 and S and 9 corre- 
spond, but the space between 2 and 3 is less than that between 
7 and 8. 2 marks the height and 8 the depth to which letters 
not looped may go, and 1 and 9 mark the space in which the 
loop must be made. The five lines are for the body of the 
letters. 

I cannot describe in ten pages what I could show on the 
black-board in ten minutes, but I must not entirely omit the 
directions for shaping and joining letters. Let the small 
letters be made first. Suppose a class of beginners to be 
before me, with their slates before them, and their pencils 
sharpened, and long, or else thrust into a tin handle or a 
goosequill, to make them so. Let the pencil be held properly 
at first, and much trouble will be saved in subsequent lessons. 
It is difficult to describe the proper manner of holding a pen, 
although it may be shown in a moment. The pen or pencil 
must never sink below the knuckle of the fore-finger into the 
hollow between that finger and the thumb ; it had better not 
sink quite as far as the knuckle. It must pass under the end 
of the forefinger, and touch the side of the middle finger just 
below the nai'i. The most common fault of bad writers is 
turning the top or convex part of the pen towards the body, 
and the consequence is that the slit does not open, as it 



76 THE teachers' institute. 

should, when the pen moves downward, but it does so when 
it makes the turn at the bottom of letters, where the most deli- 
cate line should be made. If the pen is held properly, the 
sides of the slit will open equally at the downward move- 
ment, and then, if the pen is not twisted, but carried round 
the turn and up, the slit is closed by the upward movement, 
and the finest hair line is produced. 

In writing with a pencil, the upward lines can be made just 
as fine by lightening the pressure of the hand. If a pupil 
makes the upward lines as coarse as the downward, stop him 
at once, and give him a separate lesson in the art of bear- 
ing on. 

To return to our lesson. Let me talk as if the class were 
before me, pencil in hand. 

You see, children, I place my chalk on the second line and 
draw a straight, but leaning or inclined line, downward to the 
seventh. Now do the same on your slates. This mark is no 
letter, but it forms a part of several letters. Make these 
straight lines till you get the command of your fingers. Hold 
your hands so that you rest upon the little finger and the next 
to it, and only move the thumb, fore and middle fingers, in 
forming letters. Let me see how each makes a straight mark 
and holds his hand. Very well. Now, let the straight line 
only go down to the sixth line, and when you get there, light 
up your pencil, and begin to turn as you see me do, and 
when you have touched the seventh line, go up as lightly as 
possible to the fifth line. This forms the letter I. 

If, now, instead of making another Z, you place a dot where 
the top of I would be, then skip from 2 to 3, and finish the 
lower part of the I from 3 to 6, and curve it as before, you will 
make the letter i. I required you to make the dot first, 
because many persons are so careless as not to place the dot 
where the top of the letter would be if the i were an I. You 
see the dot must lean as the rest of the i does. If you begin 
half way between 2 and 3, and go down and turn as in I and 
i, and then, half way betw^een the top of your letter and 
the third line, lay your pencil on the letter and drav/ a 
short line towards the right, you will have a t. Some care- 
less persons make a full cross at the top of t, but this is 
wrong. 

To make n, you see I begin at the seventh line, and go up 
lightly to 4, then I curve, but do not bear on till I reach 3, 
when I bear on, and continue a steady pressure till I reach 7. 



WRITING. 77 

Then, touching the mark I have just made at 6, I go up 
lightly to 4, curve at 3, as before, and come dovsrn to 6, when 
I light up, curve at 7, and carry up a fine mark to 5. The 
fine mark is carried up, so that, if I wish to join on another 
letter the fine mark may be ready for it. An 7n is made like 
an n, the first part being repeated, beginning at 6. See now 
how I make it, and do the same on your slates. To make k, 
take the first mark that I taught you, from 2 to 7, then, touch- 
ing it at 6, make the last part of an n. To make a p, begin 
half way between 2 and 3, draw a straight sloping line to 8, 
and then touching it at 6, make the latter part of an n. To 
make u, begin at 7, go up lightly to 4, then, beginning at 3, 
bear on, touch the fine mark you have just made a little below 
4, go on to 6, curve as in i, and go up finely to 5. Then 
begin again at 3, bear on, touch the fine mark just below 4, 
and finish as if it were an i. 

To make v, begin at 7, go up lightly, and turn as at the 
beginning of n. Go down to 6, bearing on, then curve, and 
go up lightly to 3, not flaring too much, then bear on, go down 
by the side of the fine mark, and not on it, as far as 5, then 
curve, and go up lightly to 4. To make iv, you need only 
repeat the first part of v. To make b, the first part of a z? 
should be lengthened by beginning at 2 instead of 3. 

To makey, begin at 3, and bearing on, go do\vn to 8, then 
curve, go up at 9, cross the thick mark you have just made 
half way from 8 to 7, and go up as fine as possible to 5. Dot 
the j as you would an i where the top of an I would come, on 
2. y has the first part of v added to j, without its dot. 

To make o, begin at 4, and go up lightly curving to 3, then 
begin to bear on harder and harder till 5, then light up, begin 
to curve at 6, turn at 7, and go up lightly to 4, joining as 
neatly as possible. Many begin to make an o at 3, but this is 
unsafe, for if it is badly joined it shows, and cannot be covered 
when a, d, g ov q are made of the o. When o is well made, 
make a of it by placing the pencil on 3, and drawing it to 6, 
bearing on, and touching the o, but not cutting any of it off so 
as to spoil the oval, curve just below 5 and turn up finely as 
in i. To make d, make o, then begin at 2, bear on, touch the 
o, but cut none of it off, curve just below 5, and end as in a. 
To make q, make o, then begin at 3, go down, bearing on, 
to 8. To make g, make o, go down as in q, and curve, and 
go up as in y. 

To make c, make a handsome dot on 4, touch the right side 
7^ 



78 THE teachers' institute. 

of it, go up lightly as in o, curve as in o, except that, instead | 
of joining where you began, you must let the fine mark incline 
to the right, and stop at 5. To make e, begin at 7, go up curv- 
ing backward to 3, then finish as in c, taking care to cross the 
fine mark between 5 and 6. 

To make k, begin at 2, and go down to 7 as in making h. 
Begin at 4, go finely to 3, curve and bear on between 3 and 
4, but come down lightly to 5. Touch the fine mark just 
above 5, curve to 5, bear on from 5 to 6, and curve up as 
in k. 

To make ?', make the first part of n, go up from 6 as if 
going to finish n, but at 3 bear on, and go down beside the 
fine mark just below 5, and then curve up lightly to 4. 

To make 5, begin at 7, go up finely and without curving to 
3, leave the fine line sharp at top, and touching it between 3 
and 4, curve round, thickening most at 5, curving at 7, and 
ending in a neat dot on the fine line between 5 and 6. 

To make x, begin at 7, go up curving, as if making an o 
backwards. Then make a c, taking care however not to bear 
on at any part of the c, and not to touch the o part above 4 or 
below 6. 

To make z, begin at 7, go up lightly to 3, make a neat dot 
on 3, curve lightly and touch 3 again, then curve as you see 
me do, thickening most at 5 and reaching to 7, then leaving 
the angle sharp, curve on the 7th line, and go up with a fine 
line to 5. 

To make/, begin at 7, and go up with a slight curve to 2, 
then curve to 1, begin to thicken in coming down at 2, and 
carry a steady pressure in a straight line to 8, then curve to 
the right, and go up without too wide a sweep to 5 ; touch 
the stem, but do not cross it, as is sometimes ungracefully done. 

As the chief object of writing such large hand first is to 
give the child a free movement of the hand, which is more 
easily obtained with a pencil than with a pen, I have always 
required the curves at the top and bottom of letters to be nar- 
rower than is common in what is called old-fashioned round- 
hand. This will be seen in the specimen of letters on page 
74, and the reason is, that nothing destroys the beauty of fine 
hand so much as too large a curve at the top or bottom ; and 
if the child gets accustomed to a certain proportion in writing 
large hand he will preserve it, right or wrong, in small 
hand. 

In writing large hand, no letter should be looped but/, g^ 



WRITING. 79 

long 5 and long z and y. In small hand, Z*, A, ^, and Z, are 
also looped. In large hand, the main stem of the li should he 
twice the height of the other part, but in small hand, it may be 
four times as high, including the loop. In large hand,/, g, 
and y go further below the body than the letter / goes above it. 

Capitals extend from 7 to 1 upward. In old times, the G, 
J, and Y were carried from 1 to 9, but the fashion now is to 
set G, J, and Y upon the 7th line, and to carry Z down to the 
9th. I think it is unsafe to make I for J, and the teacher 
should avoid this alteration, but G and Y, if well made, look 
better on the 7th, than on the 9th line. 

Let not the teacher or parent expect any child to learn to 
write in a moment. It is not uncommon for professors of the 
art of writing to promise a good hand to the pupil in twelve 
lessons, whether he is apt to learn or not, and, I believe, 
whether he tries to learn or not. There is deception in this, 
not unlike that which is practised in teaching French, it being 
not unusual for professors to promise to teach a foreign 
language in twenty lessons to persons who have not, with 
every advantage of circumstances, been able to learn their 
own language in tw^enty years. 

While I was a teacher, one of the most popular professors 
of writing visited Boston, and put up at one of the great hotels, 
the daughter of whose landlord was one of my pupils. She 
wrote a neat and very legible hand, but the professor, Who 
wished to pay his board in the easiest manner, persuaded the 
landlord that his daughter Avrote a very bad hand, and, in 
twelve lessons, he could make her write an elegant one. The 
father very politely asked my consent to the 'experiment, and 
I, of course, gave it, upon condition that she should not, in the 
mean time, write any at my school. The professor charged 
one dollar a lesson, and at the end of the course, as his bill 
for board was more than twelve dollars, he persuaded the land- 
lord to give his daughter another course, which would cer- 
tainly make her a quite accomplished writer. She took the 
second course, and one day afterwards she laid a specimen of 
her penmanship upon my desk, and said, in a somewhat 
triumphant way, " There, sir, what do you think of that ? " " Is 
this the result of your twenty-four lessons ? " said I. " Yes, 
L;ir," said she. " Heie is what I wrote when I went to Mr. 
B., and here is what I wrote when I had completed the 
course." " Well," said I, " what does your father think of 
it?" " O, sir, he thinks I have made great improvement 



80 THE teachers' INSTITUTE. 

and don't you think so too ? " " No," said I, " if I did not 
know the force of habit, I should say he had spoiled your 
handwriting ; but, as you will soon forget all he has taught 
you, and go back to your former hand, the experiment will 
do you no harm." At my request, she gave me the two 
specimens of her work, and I laid them in my desk. " Now," 
said I, " Ann, tell me honestly under what circumstances 
you wrote the two specimens, — were they fairly written ? " 
" Why, no, sir," said she, " I cannot say they were ; for, when I 
first went to Mr. B., he told me to write that specimen without 
a copy, and although the pen was very bad, he would not mend 
it or get me a better one ; but when I wrote the other speci- 
men, after I had taken the two courses of lessons, he ruled my 
paper, and mended my pen fifty times." About three or four 
months afterwards, seeing the specimens in my desk, I called 
Miss Ann to me, and laying the beautiful specimen before 
her, I asked her to read it to me. It consisted of four or five 
lines only, but, after trying and guessing for some time, she 
confessed, what was quite apparent, that she could not read 
it. " Do you know what it is?" said I. " 0, yes, sir," said 
she, " Now," said I, " see if you can read the other speci- 
men." She read it with perfect ease, and confessed that, on 
the whole, it looked the best. 

The fact was, the professor taught a style of writing which 
paid little regard to the peculiar form of each letter, and the 
letters looked as if they were all w's and n's. I have told 
this long story for two reasons. First, because I believe 
many a good teacher has been injured by comparisons made 
by injudicious parents and committees, between what such 
professors promise, and what regular teachers, under many 
disadvantages, perform. If the professor is really a good pen- 
man, and does nothing but teach his art, and if the pupil 
attends to the lessons, as persons usually do under such cir- 
cumstances, punctually, carefully, and with a deep feeling of 
what is expected of them, and of the extraordinary expense 
incurred, much improvement may be made. But this will all 
be lost, unless the pupil frequently, and for a long time, 
practises upon the lessons received ; and, as not one in a hun- 
dred does this, almost every pupil of twelve-lesson-professors 
relapses into the handwriting to which he was accustomed 
before he was reformed. My second reason is, that the story 
teaches the importance of two rules, which teachers should 



WRiXiNG. 81 

always insist upon, first, that the writing shall be legible, and 
then that, if possible, it shall be elegant. 

I would gladly give directions for the formation of the 
capital letters, and also some rules in regard to printing, but 
my book threatens to be too voluminous, and I must desist, or 
omit entirely other matters of at least equal importance. Let 
children, then, begin to write early. Let them write large 
hand before small. Let them write on the slate freely before 
they write on paper. When they write on paper, let them 
use a lead-pencil before a pen. Let them write much freely 
and almost carelessly, to acquire a free movement of the 
hand, but let the teacher require every regular copy, and every 
exercise in orthography, grammar, &c., to be as well written 
as if it were a set exercise in writing. If the teacher is a good 
penman, he can carry this instruction into every exercise of 
the school ; but, if he is not a penman, he cannot teach pen- 
manship, any better than a clov/n can teach manners. 



82 



DRAWING. 

I KNOW not how I can better explain my notions on this 
subject, than by giving the preface of a little volume that I 
have published on the subject, entitled : 

THE EYE AND HAND; 

Being a Series of Practical Lessons in Drawing, for the 
Training of those Important Organs : Adapted to the Use 
of Commo7i Schools. 

PRE FACE. 

Experience has fully demonstrated that Drawing may be 
introduced into Infant and Primary Schools with great ben- 
efit to the children, and with beneficial effect upon the disci- 
pline of the schools. Every child, however young, should 
have a slate, and it will require no great skill on the part of 
the teacher to chalk some familiar object on the black- 
board^ and request those children not otherwise engaged, to 
copy it. The evil of our primary schools, and the greatest 
evil, because productive of most other evils, is, want of 
employment; and yet how easily a teacher could keep a 
hundred children constantly and pleasantly engaged, if he 
knew how to draw. 

The apparatus of primary school-rooms does not admit 
of any great variety of lessons ; for, often, the Httle pupil 
has no desk, and, of course, no opportunity to use rules, 
pens, and paper. No matter, — much may be done without 
any apparatus but the slate and pencil; much that will be 
an excellent introduction to the drawing of maps, and to the 
study of Arithmetic and Geometry. Besides the drawing 
of common objects, which exercise the taste, a regular 
course of drawing may be given, which will train the eye 
and the hand, and be to drawing what the four fundamental 
rules are to Arithmetic, the basis of all the more advanced 
movements. 

When Napoleon was emperor of France, he established a 
national system of education, and one of the earliest studies 
was Drawing ; not fancy drawing, which is hardly subject 



DRAWING. 



83 



to any fixed rules, but that portion of the art which is 
subject to them, and for which directions may be given as 
certain as any rule of mathematics, — on which, in fact, 
drawing as a science depends. The emperor ordered the 
Bureau of Instruction to prepare a drawing book of this 
sort for the national schools, and the book so prepared by 
M. Francoeur, was eminently successful. 

The following book is a free translation of the French 
Manual, and as far as my practice and my judgment are to 
be depended on, the effect of the course of instruction here 
proposed is to produce wonderful freedom and accuracy in 
the use of the eye and hand. Those who have seen the 
elegant writing, printing, and map-drawing, performed by my 
pupils, should be informed that those exercises were done 
by children who had also been trained to draw according to 
the system here proposed and explained, a system more 
simple, more practicable in our common schools, and more 
economical, than any other that I have seen. 

The first lessons are Li7ies, horizontal, vertical, oblique, 
of various prescribed lengths, which the pupils are gradually 
taught, without the use of any rule or dividers, to draw per- 
fectly straight, and to cut into halves, thirds, quarters, 
inches, tenths, «fec., thus illustrating the earliest exercises 
in fractions. Then Angles are introduced and gradually 
explained, and, by practice, the child is soon enabled to 
draw an angle of any prescribed number of degrees. Next 
follow Tria7igles, Squares, Pentagons of all sorts, parts of 
which are prescribed, and the rest required to correspond. 
Pyra7nids, Prisms, 6cc., come next. Then Circles, Ellipses, 
Ovals, are introduced, with Cones, Cyliiiders, &c. &c. 
Next, these exact rules are applied to the drawing of Urn^, 
Vases, the Orders of Architecture, &c. &c., and finally, the 
elements of drawing in Perspective are given. All these 
lessons are expected to be performed without the use of 
instruments, but, directions for making the same figures 
with instruments are given in an appendix, and simple prob- 
lems, in the simplest rules of arithmetic, are given, to ena- 
ble the pupil to calculate the contents of a square, a polygon, 
a prism, cone or cylinder, — an exercise of the utmost impor- 
tance to the mechanic, who wishes to draft his own plans, 
calculate contracts, and be independent of others. 

The exercises are confined to lines, and do not attempt to 
teach shading. Directions are given at e\^ery step, so that 



84 THE teachers' institute. 

a teacher who knows nothing of drawing, may, by following 
the rules, learn the art while teaching it to his pupils, and 
the correction of their work will soon give him an exactness 
and facility of eye and hand, that will surprise him. Such 
was the effect of my practice in this way, that, to this day, I 
rarely use any rule or dividers for drawing lines, or describ- 
ing circles. 

In teaching drawing to the young, I would not exclude 
fancy drawing, because this cultivates the taste as well as 
the eye and the hand ; but there is no such system in it, 
nor can any be introduced. I should, therefore, introduce 
fancy figures occasionally, as I would introduce spelling 
from reading lessons, to vary the exercise and give life to it. 
The main reliance, however, must be upon that part of 
drawing which is subject to rules, which does not depend 
upon arbitary taste, and which may be conducted systemati- 
cally to any extent of skill and accuracy. If the teacher 
requires aid in the delineation of common objects, he may 
find elementary drawing books in great abundance, or he 
may place real objects before the pupils ; and, if they prac- 
tise the lessons of this book first, they will afterwards apply 
their knowledge and skill to the delineation of natural 
objects without the awkwardness and fear that usually mark 
the efforts of beginners. 

I am satisfied that drawing and writing are nearly allied, 
and may be introduced into primary schools much more 
early than is generally supposed ; and, as there can be no 
doubt of the utility of these branches, and as they serve 
admirably to fill up the otherwise idle hours of school 
time, it is to be hoped that, if teachers do not voluntarily 
introduce them, the Committees will require them to be 
introduced, not to push aside other studies, but to banish 
indolence and all its evil consequences from our schools. 



I believe that drawing may be taught to children as soon, or 
even sooner, than they can be taught to write. In preparing 
a book to train the eye and hand of pupils, I was aware of the 
fact that most teachers of drawing are entirely unacquainted 
with any rules of the art, except those which relate to the 
manner of holding and using the pencil, that is, in making 
marks and shading figures. Of course, the children will get 
instruction in this part of drawing more easily than in that 
wliich is loss common. A course of lessons, therefore, that 



DRAWING. 85 

had a bearing upon the scientific part of the art, was a 
desirable thing, and such I endeavored to furnish to the young 
teacher. The book is accompanied with such complete direc- 
tions, that I need not repeat them, but shall content myself 
with giving a few plain directions to aid teachers in drawing 
objects of taste, which may not be embraced by the rules of 
the book, but which, as I have said in the preface, should be 
interspersed among the more severe exercises of the book, 
as a reward or relaxation. 

By all means let the pupils draw outlines first. If they 
have any choice of pencils, let them use a soft one in prefer- 
ence to a hard one, and make the line as lightly as possible, 
that it may be easily erased if not well made. Whatever the 
picture to be drawn, let the ivhole outline be drawn first. 
Then examine it carefully, and fix the outline by a plainer 
mark with a harder pencil. If the object to be shaded be an 
animal, — a horse, for instance, — begin at the head and shade 
downwards. If a landscape, begin at the top, which is 
generally the more remote part of the picture, and then there 
will be less danger of erasing the work by rubbing your hand 
over it. Indeed, the neat workman will always keep a piece 
of paper between his hand and his work, to prevent any 
erasure, and any soiling of the paper. For a general rule, 
the deepest shades belong to the remotest objects.^ If you 
draw a circle and wish to shade it so that it shall resemble a 
ball, the darkest shade must be at the circumference, and the 
centre of what was the circle will be the lightest, and will 
represent that part of the ball nearest to you. 

These hints will enable the teacher, not only to keep his 
pupils employed, but to make diagrams and other illustrations 
of his lessons. He may even go further, and by the same 
rules paint illustrations on cotton cloth with great ease. At 
one of the Institutes I gave the teachers a lesson in the art of 
paintmg on cotton ; and then, to ascertain whether I had been 
understood, I called on such as thought they could not paint a- 
copy of what I had painted, to hold up a hand. Several 
hands, of course, were raised ; and, to their surprise, I picked 
out the most faint-hearted of them, and requested her to come 
forward and draw and paint an object similar to that I had 
painted on the cloth. She said " She could not do it to save 
her life." To please me, however, she made an attempt to 
draw and shade the figure, which was the large bone of the 
arm, and she did it well, and with great ease and dispatch, 
8 



86 THE TEACI^RS' INSTITUTE. 

All that is necessary is to take a piece of cotton cloth, and 
tack it as tight as possible upon a board, (I used a common 
folding-board.) Then, with a crayon or lead pencil, draw an 
outline of the object to be painted. The paint to be used is 
common black paint, such as is used to paint common wood- 
work. It is made by mixing lampblack and linseed or 
painter's oil. A little spirit of turpentine may be added, if 
you wish it to dry speedily. Do not make the paint too thin. 
My rule is to mix it on a pane of glass, and of such consis- 
tency that it will just not run off. A common stiff hair-pencil 
w^ill do to paint over the outline, but a stiffer brush, made of 
bristles, and no larger than a common hair-pencil, is prefer- 
able, because it overcomes more readily the fuzz which is 
found on the surface of most cotton cloth. For the same 
reason, in printing letters on this cloth, I generally use a stick 
made of a piece of shingle a tenth of an inch wide, and 
about as thick as the shingle is, in the middle. With the flat 
side I mark the thick part, and with the edge the thin part of 
the letters. 

After the outline is painted with the small brush, the best 
way to shade the figure is the following. Take an old paint- 
brush that has been worn down until the bristles come to an 
edge like a wedge, which wedge must not exceed an inch in 
length. Place the edge lengthwise on the outline, bear on, 
and, as you draw the brush forward, light up the hand. Of 
course, the darkest shade will then be at the outline, and the 
lightest near the centre towards which the brush is drawn. 
If there is no wish to give the figure a rounded appearance, 
rub the brush on a piece of cloth or board till it makes a mark 
of the desired shade, and then rub the brush over the figure. 
Diagrams painted in this way will last very long, and, if 
soiled, may be washed and look all the better for it. A little 
practice will enable the teacher to overcome any obstacle that 
will arise, and in this way, he may ornament his school-room, 
and prepare illustrations which will be as much more intelli- 
gible than mere words, as one example of painting would be 
more effectual than this imperfect description of the process. 



8V 



GEOGRAPHY. 

i Lecture on " The Best Method of Teaching Geographij^^ 
delivered before the American Institute of Instruction, at 
Hartford, Conn., August, 1845; by William B. Fowle. 
Re-published from the fifteenth volume of the Institute 
Lectures. 

In rising to address you at this time, I feel the embarrass- 
ment which always attends any attempt to address a mixed 
audience upon the details of instruction in any branch of sci- 
ence ; for, if the subject is only treated in general terms, there 
are always some to accuse it of having no practical bearing ; 
and, if it is treated in detail, a larger number, perhaps, will 
find it dull and uninteresting. I would gladly have avoided 
the task altogether, but your committee were so polite as to 
invite me to lecture, because I had some score years of experi- 
ence as a teacher of the branch which they proposed for my 
subject, and I had done so little for the Institute, that I did not 
feel at liberty to decline, however serious were my misgivings 
as to the result. 

The subject proposed by your committee was, " The Best 
Method of Teaching Geography," by which they probably 
meant my method, taking it for granted that no honest teacher 
will for a moment use any method but that which he considers 
the best. But a serious difficulty met me at the outset ; for, 
what did the committee understand by the term Geography ? 
I knew that this term, etymologically considered, meant a 
description of the earth in all its appearances, permanent and 
changeable ; but the committee must have used the word in a 
more restricted sense, and how was I to get at it? I applied 
first to that leviathan of lexicographers, Dr. Johnson, and 
he said " Geography is the knowledge of the earth." The, 
we are told by an admired grammarian, is the definite article, 
although, as in this case, all that is ^definite in the defini- 
tion seems to proceed from the use of the. But, allowing that 
the Doctor meant, "Knowledge of the earth," the question 
naturally arose, What knowledge of it ? Its origin ? its struc- 



88 THE teachers' institute. 

ture? its superficial features? its artificial divisions? its 
changes? or, what part of the various knowledge that has 
been collected from age to age ? To ascertain the kind or 
degree of this knowledge, I thought the definition of particular 
departments of it would aid me, and turning to the word 
Geology, I found that to mean, " The Doctrine of the Earth." 
I then, of course, turned to the word doctrine^ and found that 
to mean, " The principles or positions of any sect or master." 
Not perceiving that I had made any approximation to the 
desired point, but more than ever convinced of the absurdity 
of requiring children to study lessons from the Dictionary, I 
turned to the word Topography, and found this to be, " A 
description of particular places," by which, I suppose, the 
Doctor meant, " A particular description of places;" for, if a 
description of particular places is topography, then a descrip- 
tion of all places is not topography. 

I resorted, then, to the definitions given by our best geogra- 
phers, but, instead of repeating these, which, by the way, are 
often greatly at variance with the contents of their textbooks, 
I prefer to give a paragraph from the Library of Useful 
Knowledge, which not only describes what I consider to be 
the great mistake of all geographical textbooks, but which 
proposes nearly the plan that I have pursued from the begin- 
ning, and which I shall endeavor to recommend in this lecture. 
" Universal Geography," says the author, whoever he may be, 
" is the science that conveys to us a knowledge of the earth, 
both as a distinct and independent body in the universe, and 
as connected with a system of heavenly bodies. The figure, 
structure and dimensions of the earth ; the properties and 
mutual relations of its parts ; the features of- its surface ; its 
productions and inhabitants, and the laws which govern or 
partially affect it as a heavenly body, are all included in the 
comprehensive term of Universal Geography. This defini- 
tion," he goes on to say, " or rather, this description of the 
objects of geography, serves as the basis of M. Make Brun's 
elaborate work, but it manifestly embraces a great variety of 
subjects commonly called, and treated under distinct heads of, 
natural philosophy. To avoid, therefore, the confusion of 
ideas to which the extensiveness of this definition may give 
rise, it will be convenient to reduce its terms within the limits 
usually assigned to geography. And we are the rather induced 
to do this, because the interests of science have been promoted^ 
in vo slight degree, by a jicdicioios and tmll defined arrange 



GEOGRAPHY. 89 

ment of its parts, which at once excludes a great number of 
fanciful resemblances^ and, like a division of labor in mechanic- 
al employments, renders every branch more easy to be acquired, 
and more likely to be extended and improved.^' " In its proper 
and more confined sense," he concludes, " geography com- 
prises a knowledge of the figure and dimensions of the earth, 
and the situation of places upon it ; of the natural and political 
features and divisions of its surface ; and of its various 'pro- 
ductions and inhabitants''' This latter definition, with the 
exception of the last clause, may be assumed by the lecturer, 
but "the description of the various productions of the earth" 
approaches so nearly to Botany and Geology, and " the 
description of its inhabitants " approaches so nearly to Natural 
and, perhaps, Civil History, that they had better be referred to 
the books devoted to those important but distinct sciences. 

If we examine the books that are most used in the schools 
of the United States for teaching geography, we soon come to 
the conclusion, that, if all they contain is geography, then 
this is the most comprehensive name ever given to a science, 
and we shall be led, perhaps, to suspect that Dr. Johnson was 
fully aware of what he said, when he defined geography to be 
" The knowledge of the earth," par excellence. I know not 
that I shall do injustice to many of these textbooks, if I say 
that every thing is found in them but what ought to be there ; 
for, really, when the proper materials are there, they are so 
buried under other matters, that they are with difficulty found. 
In most of them, besides topography, and a smattering of geol- 
ogy and astronomy, we find history, botany, zoology, meteor- 
ology, and all the other ologies appertaining to natural history, 
with theology, chronology, genealogy, manners and customs, the 
statistics of war, education, sectarianism, internal improvement, 
law, physic, agriculture, commerce, manufactures, philanthropy, 
and most other human concerns. Now, all these subjects are 
very important, and every well educated person should know 
more, much more of them, than is contained in these geo- 
graphical textbooks ; but it is questionable whether an adult 
mind would be much improved by reading or learning by rote 
such knowledge, however important, given as it is, without 
system, without due proportion, without judgment. But, if 
such desultory remarks are of doubtful utility to adults, what 
must they be to children, who generally come to the study of 
geography long before they have studied any of the subjects 
just enumerated ? It was the custom, when the spelling-book 



90 THE teachers' iimstitute. 

was almost the only secular book used in our schools, to 
crowd a smattering of almost every thing else into it, and I 
have one that contains, besides its vocabulary of words, the 
elements of reading, grammar, arithmetic, geography, astron- 
omy, rhetoric, theology, penmanship, and a variety of other 
matters, more necessary then, when the Bible and spelling 
book were the school-boy's library, than such a medley is in 
our geographies now, when every division of human science 
has an appropriate textbook, in which it is systematically 
treated. The good sense of the community has long ago 
banished such extraneous subjects from the spelling book, but 
will it sift the geographies also ? Many of those subjects are 
as much related to spelling as the others are to geography ; 
for, spelling, unless accompanied with writing, reading and 
grammar, is but half taught, and this fact the people are begin- 
ning to perceive. 

What I have called the extraneous matter of geographical 
textbooks often constitutes about three quarters of them, and, 
no doubt, it is introduced to fix the geographical facts in the 
memory by association or some other sympathetic influence. 
But, if this is a sufficient excuse for introducing such frag- 
ments of various knowledge, how important is it that the most 
striking and apposite illustrations should be selected. Yet, I 
find no such judgment exercised; so that the aid afforded by 
the associated knowledge only increases the burden. For 
instance, one popular author, who relies much upon the aid 
of pictures, when treating of the geography of America, gives 
us a view of Columbus leaving Palos, in Spain ; but how will 
this help the child to remember the shape, features, natural or 
artificial divisions of America ? It introduces an historical fact, 
and ma}^ recall Spain to mind, though the site of Palos, the 
subject of the picture, is no where described. In his larger 
geography, the same author gives a picture emblematical of 
the United States, viz. : an Indian astride a flying eagle. 
Then we have a picture of the Resignation of General Wash- 
ington, but, as we are not told where it took place, it is not 
evident what geo graphical fact it is to impress upon the 
memory. This incongruity is not confined to him, however, 
for another amiable and excellent author, whose book is a 
mass of facts, that render it, in my opinion, unfit to be used 
by children, while they show his unusually extensive acquain- 
tance with the earth and all that appertains to it, gives a 
Roman Catholic proces^on in Guatimala; some peasants 



GEOGRAPHY. 91 

dancing in France : and many similar pictures, not peculiar 
to the country where they are given, and not likely to operate 
as aids to the recollection of any geographical fact any where. 
But this will suffice, and I need not produce examples from 
inferior authors. I am not unacquainted with the power of 
association in assisting the memory, but I have been accustomed 
to associate unknown things with those that are familiar, and I 
cannot be deceived into the belief, that, where there are no 
common points of resemblance, any thing is gained to the 
memory by having two facts to remember instead of one. 

So with the description of places, customs, &:c. &c., which 
are to be committed to memory ; they are rarely connected 
with the thing to be remembered with them. For a general 
rule, those w^ho have studied the textbooks in common use, 
are ignorant of the location of places and the physical features 
of the earth, exactly in proportion to the quantity of words 
they may have committed to memory. My heart has sunk 
within me when I have examined children, whose memories 
had been thus taxed at the expense of health, and of years of 
precious time far worse than wasted. Who does not know 
how eager such children are to recite as soon as they have 
committed a lesson to memory ? One would think the recita- 
tion was to fix it forever in the mind, whereas it is really 
only a device to let it escape and make room for its successor ; 
it being a law with these unsubstantial things, as with solid 
bodies, that no two can occupy the same place at the same 
time. 

While I was at school, geography was first introduced as a 
regular exercise, and, on the whole, the method of instruction 
was more rational than that which has since prevailed, 
although its result was very similar. The chief book used 
was an abridgement of Dr. Morse's Universal Geography, but 
it was read only, and not committed to memory. It was 
never explained to the pupils, and being quite unintelligible, 
was, of course, very uninteresting. The only portion that 
was tolerable, w^as a description of the animals of this country ; 
and this was to the desert a sort of oasis, which we \4sited, 
in the course of our reading, only about once a year. The 
book contained one or two maps, but we were never required 
to examine them, and, in most cases, they were soon torn out, 
and thrown aw^ay as the most useless things in the world. 
To beguile the tedious hours of idleness, which then, as now, 
constituted the larger part of school time, such of us as retained 



92 THE teachers' institute. 

the maps were accustomed to play " hunt foi places" on 
them. This was a standing game for years, and to this I am 
indebted for all the knowledge of geography that I brought 
away from school, although, whenever I was detected in this 
forbidden exercise, I was severely punished. I do not recol- 
lect any more of that book than I should if I had committed 
it all to memory, but I recollect how I hated Dr. Morse for 
making it. Another book, used at the same time, was Bing- 
ham's Astronomical and Geographical Catechism, a small 
book which I committed to memory in a few months, and 
recited regularly eight or ten times a year, without under- 
standing a word of it, for it was never explained to me. In 
connection with oral teaching, I prefer books that ask ques- 
tions, and require the pupil to search the atlas for an answer, 
without furnishing one ready to his hand, or a key to one in 
the shape of the first letter. But the little Catechism gave an 
answer to every question, and a departure from the very 
words of the book, although the idea was retained, was 
deemed an error, as well as the height of presumption. There 
was no association in my mind between any description in 
these two books and any spot on the maps, but many of those 
descriptions were indelibly associated with certain black-and- 
blue spots elsewhere. 

I have remarked that the extraneous matter of our geo- 
graphical textbooks is of but little value when learned ; let 
me enlarge a little upon this idea. Who does not know that 
when a new edition of a geography, a revised edition, I mean, 
is printed, the old edition is no longer fit for use ? Why is 
this ? The author of the larger geography used, until lately, 
in the Boston schools, tells us, in the preface of one of his 
editions, that it was first published in 1819, and, after two 
editions, was stereotyped, or placed beyond alteration. Soon, 
he adds, it was necessary to re-Avrite it entirely, and then, 
after two more editions, it was stereotyped, or fixed again. 
Unfortunately the world would not stay fixed to accommodate 
the types, and, in a subsequent page, we are told that the 
book " may be expected to remain as it is, until a considerable 
change shall become desirable," that is, until an unusually 
large portion of it becomes incorrect ! The author of a later 
and more popular geography, but by no means a better one, 
informs us in his preface, that " The introduction of a great 
variety of books into schools in the same department of 
knowledge, by rendering the information uncertain, the 



GEOGRAPHY. 93 

expense greater, and the progress less rapid, is an evil of 
which many have complained." But how is this evil to be 
remedied ? How is the greater ex-pense of using various 
books, that may correct each other, instead of " rendering the 
information uncertain," to be remedied ? Let us see. " To 
obviate this," continues the preface, " the author has resolved 
to give his work a periodical revision, which will be repeated 
and continued regularly once in five years thereafter;" which 
seems to mean that, instead of buying several books of differ- 
ent authors, the pupils will only have to purchase several 
editions of the same book. But the expense is of no impor- 
tance compared with the fact, that, after a child has studied a 
book five years, the new edition will show him that, if what 
he has learned is retained, it is incorrect, and, of course, use- 
less to him. 

Now, whence arises this absurd, nay, cruel necessity for 
change ? Not because the world has changed ; it is essen- 
tially the same it was when Noah went forth from the ark 
four thousand years ago; — not even, because the divisions 
made by man have essentially changed, for, every where, 
except perhaps in our own country, these divisions are what 
they were one generation at least ago. Is it not evident that 
the new book must be made to rectify matters that should 
never have found a place in the old one ? What is the object 
of teaching geography in our schools ? Is it not the same as 
that of teaching arithmetic, reading, spelling, and the other 
common branches — to give the child something that will be 
of service to him when he becomes a man ? And is there not 
enough that is permanent on the earth, to occupy the few 
months, or even years, that are devoted to the study of 
geography ? Have the oceans ceased to heave since the 
Almighty gathered them to their place ? Have the countless 
rivers ceased to run since they were poured out from the hol- 
low of the Almighty hand ? The everlasting hills, have they 
moved again since they fled from the wrath of Him who 
uplifted them ? No, no, no, nor will they, till the dooming 
angel shall plant his right foot upon the flood, and his left 
foot upon the earth, and swear by Him that liveth forever and 
ever, that time shall be no longer. 

But let it not be supposed that I would reject all such aids 
as would interest the child in the permanent, and, as I think, 
proper subjects of geographical instruction. The competent 
teacher may often suggest some circumstance to engage the 



94 THE teachers' institute. 

pupil, and give him an interest in the thing to be remembered 
If you wished to express the fact that there is such a country 
as Italy, and its peculiar form, upon the mind of a child, you 
might tell him about Rome as it was and as it is ; when its 
material wall included but one hill, and was so low that it 
was overleaped in derision, or when its spiritual wall inclosed 
all Christendom, and aspired to include heaven ; when it 
subdued the world by knowledge, or enslaved it by ignorance ; 
when the dark oracles of the Sibyl, or the bright oracles of 
God, were shut up from the people ; you might tell the child 
all this, but what would he know of the geography of Italy ? 
Not one tenth as much as he would if you showed him the 
map, called his attention to its boot-like form, and required 
him to draw a dozen or more outlines of it. The textbook 
used in the Boston schools was as copious as any, and the 
instruction conformable to it, probably, as thorough ; and yet, 
in the remarkable Report of the Examining Committee of 
those schools in 1845, ^mq are told, " That each scholar (of five 
hundred selected from the first division of the highest class of 
each school) was required to sketch on paper an outline of 
Italy, and many attempted it, but, of the whole number, only 
seventeen made a drawing, which could have been recognized 
as a representation of Italy, by one who did not know what 
the scholar was trying to do." 

Again, if you wished to impress the geographical outline 
of the Spanish Peninsula upon the pupil's mind, would you 
tell him of Ferdinand and Isabella ; of the repulse of the 
Saracen invaders, and the invasion of Mexico ; of the enfran- 
chisement of Spain and the establishment of the Inquisition ; 
of the slaughter of infidel WXoors, and the more modern 
butchery of Christian hosts ? You might do all this without 
giving the pupil any idea of the geography of Spain. But, 
if you should show the pupil a Spanish dollar, and call his 
attention to the Shield, whose form is exactly that of the Pen- 
insula ; to the Castle and the Lion, Castile and Leon, whose 
union freed Spain from the Saracens ; to the two pillars, 
emblems of the Pillars of Hercules, GibraUar and Ceuta ; to 
the motto that entwines them, "iVe plus ultra'' " there is 
nothing beyond," and then explain to him this limit of ancient 
geography, which Spain herself was the first to pass , my word 
for it, you would not only give him some definite ideas of the 
geography of Spain, but you would give an interest, that 
never existed before, to Spanish dollars. 



GEOGRAPHY. 95 

By such means, the well-furnished teefcher may enliven the 
details of study ; but I have always found that, where the 
book is what it ought to be, and the black-board and pencil 
are constantly used, there is but little need of other excite- 
ment, and the name of a country becomes associated with 
every geographical peculiarity of it. I will not go into all 
the details of the method by which I contrived to impress all 
the important features of the globe upon the minds of my 
pupils, for this would be uninteresting, perhaps, even to 
teachers, and he who wishes to read them may find them in 
the books which my peculiar method of teaching compelled 
me to publish. I shall, therefore, only say briefly, that, when 
called on to teach a child geography, my custom is, first to 
show the child a map or plan of his own town ; then to point 
out its connection with other towns ; how these towns form 
counties, and how the counties form the state. Then I should 
take the map of the United States, and point out Massachusetts 
and the neighboring states, showing how they combine to 
form the Union. Next, I should take the map of North 
America, and pointing out the United States and its territory, 
I should constantly keep the eye of the pupil upon the 
decreasing size of Massachusetts. I speak of mapSy because 
these are in every school, but the globe is far better, when- 
ever it can be obtained. Then on the globe, or a map of the 
world, I show the connection between North and South 
America, the wide space of water between the continents, the 
New World on one side, and the Old World on the other. I 
show him the whole globe, how we live on it, and how it 
turns round ; then I recall his attention to his native state, 
and when he has a distinct idea of its place on the globe, I 
return to his own town, or to his own state, if I have no 
suitable map of the town to enable me to make that the point 
from which our future lessons are to proceed. I then require 
the pupil to draw as good an outline of his town, county or 
state, whichsoever I must begin with, on the slate, black-board 
or paper, or on all of them. When he can do this decently, 
I let him fit the contiguous states upon it. If his book has 
little or nothing in it relating to his own state, he may draw 
the outline of every state in the Union, separately, several 
times, without entering into minute details ; but if he has a 
map of his own state, and his book can serve him as a guide, 
let him draw a map of good size, and mark first the moun- 
tains on it, and be told that these are the most important 



96 THE teachers' institute. 

feature in a countr/, and generally indicate the high lands 
from which the rivers rise. Then let him mark the rivers, 
and be sure to make him understand that they run from the 
highlands to the sea, doimihill ahvays. Then proceed to the 
other geographical divisions of land and water, dotting the 
important towns, and talking about the face of the country, as 
if it were outstretched before you. 

If something like this familiar survey had been attempted 
in the schools to which I just now referred, do you think that, 
when their five hundred elect scholars were asked, " Do the 
waters of Lake Erie run into Lake Ontario or those of 
Ontario into Erie ? " only two hundred and eighty-seven 
could have answered correctly, and " if we take into con- 
sideration," as the committee say in their report, " what is 
unquestionably true, that many of those who did not know, 
answered by guess, and they were just as likely to guess 
right as wrong," would it have been a fact, as the committee 
assert it was, that " much the largest portion of our best 
scholars could not tell which way the waters run, in spite of 
all the fame of Niagara?" Surely not; and, after this ex- 
posure, whatever textbook may be used in those schools, 
you may depend upon it that the pupils will never row their 
teachers up these Falls again. "^ 

Before leaving the native state of the pupil, be sure that a 
general idea of all its important points is obtained, so that the 
child can readily tell its parts, as you draw them on the board, 
or point them out on the outline map. Then let him take a 
neighboring state, and do the same by that, and so extend his 
knowledge to the rest, gradually travelling over the world, 
learning no descriptions by rote, but visiting every place often, 
and impressing things, not words, upon the mind. If the 
teacher, while pointing at the map, can enliven the lesson by 
a pleasant anecdote, description, or picture, so much the better, 
and any teacher may do this, if he faithfully prepares himself 
for the lesson ; but woe unto the story if it needs to be 
formally committed to memory ! 

The first time I go over the world with a pupil, I do not 
hurry, and I am not too particular. The next time I require 
more. At first, the states and countries of the world are 

* A subsequent report of the committee declares that great improvement 
has been macle in these schools since this lecture was delivered, and the 
liberal appropriation ("or globes and outline maps, and the increased activity 
of the teachers, show liiat, ere loi>s>:, Boston will be herself again. 



GEOGRAPHY. 97 

drawn separately, ani of a small size ; next, the smaller states 
are grouped, and so, at each course over the world, the space 
included in the maps is extended. I required no maps to be 
drawn for exhibition, but, once a year, I selected a fair speci- 
men of the work of each pupil, and bound the whole neatly, 
as a sort of landmark from which to measure the progress of 
the pupils. The volumes that I have thus preserved are 
among the most valuable memorials of my pupils and of my 
labors. 

After a basis is thus laid, the children are ready to enjoy 
history, voyages and travels, and all books that describe the 
countries with whose geography they are acquainted. It 
was always my custom to select a good newspaper, and read 
it, or suitable parts of it, to my more advanced classes. If 
the name of a place was mentioned, we determined its 
direction and distance from home ; and if the name was new 
to the class, they noted it upon paper, and at the next lesson 
were expected to tell all they had gathered relating to it. To 
meet such exigencies the school was always furnished with 
the best Atlases and Gazetteers ;^ but these often failed us, for 
the newspapers are always in advance of books, and we were 
often obliged to go into the world, and get instruction from 
men who know more of the actual world than they do of 
books. All arrivals and departures of vessels, most adver- 
tisements, and, indeed, almost every part of the paper, besides 
imparting the knowledge of what was actually going on in 
the world, made the pupil acquainted with its geography, and 
afforded me countless opportunities of imparting that useful 
and practical knowledge which the child will never pick out 
of his textbooks, and the want of which makes our mere 
book-learned pupils as unfit for business, as if what is learned 
at school is only to be used at school, having nothing to do 
with the outward world. 

In this way, I would teach geography to young children 
and to all beginners ; but, if they are required to learn history 
also, they should connect it with geography. My plan was 
always to read the history to the class, requiring them to look 
at the maps. Each pupil also drew an outline map on paper, 

* Perhaps no more useful assistant has been afforded to teachers than the 
Universal Pronouncing Gazetteer lately prepared by Thomas Baldwin, 
of Philadelphia, assisted by many distinguished scholars, foreign as "well as 
native. This is one of the Books of Reference that should be in every 
School Library, and should be placed there by School Committees. 

9 



98 THE teachers' institute. 

and, as fast as places or other objects, such as rivers, moun- 
tains, &c., were named, they were marked on the map, and, 
if there was room, the event and its date were recorded by 
their side. Maps were prepared, adapted to the different 
epochs in the history of a country ; especially if such divisions 
of the country as were not natural and permanent were 
seriously altered. In the history of England, for instance, the 
first map represented England as it was when first invaded by 
the Romans. The second represented it as it was when the 
Romans left it. The next, divided under the Saxon Heptar- 
chy ; the next, after its reunion under Alfred; then in the 
reign of Elizabeth, and then in our own times. Sometimes, 
in teaching ancient history, we hung a large outline map 
before the class, and marking the place of each event with 
both the ancient and modern name, and inserting no name 
unknown to history, we formed a sort of historico-geographical 
map, which the pupils all copied for private use. I need not 
go further into these details; the plan, probably, is not so 
novel now as it was twenty years ago, when I adopted it, and 
I have said as much as the intelffgent and industrious teacher 
needs, and far more than the indifferent one will use. 

If it be asked, as it reasonably may, why not begin at once 
with history, and let geography come in by the by ? I 
answer, because history is not geography, and no history will 
touch upon a hundredth part of what relates to the geography 
of a country. Books of voyages and travels are better than 
history in this respect, but, as I have already hinted, a good 
newspaper is better than all of them. But there is another 
serious objection to this indirect mode of teaching geography, 
and it is, that the time usually spent in school forbids this 
course of instruction. If the meagre compends of history 
used in our schools be adopted as a guide, the child will 
know as little of geography as of history ; and if the larger 
histories are employed, a general acquaintance with geog- 
raphy would require nearly the whole threescore and ten 
years allotted to mortals, and not merely the few years of a 
school life. No, — geography is as much a science as 
geometry, and it can be picked up by reading history no 
better than geometry can be picked up by reading works on 
astronomy. The elements must first be systematically learned, 
and then the cognate sciences may, and should, aid and illus- 
trate each other. 

In teaching geography to the young, a question of some 



GEOGRAPHY. 99 

importance is, how, or rather, where, shall we begin ? The 
prevalent opinion among the best teachers is, that we should 
begin at home. Some go so far as to say, we should begin at 
the school-room, fix the points of the compass, teach the direc- 
tion of the roads, the boundaries of the district, the contiguous 
districts, the boundaries of the town, the situation of every 
pond, stream, hill, and other important object in it, and then 
proceed to the next town. This, on the whole, is the true 
plan, and the natural one ; but you may have perceived that, 
in describing my course, I first gave a general idea of the 
world, that the child might know what and where home was, 
and this course had been forced upon me by the attempt to 
teach entirely on the home plan. When I^aarked the cardinal 
points on the floor of my school-room, the little geographers 
would ask, " What does north mean, sir ? AVhy is north 
always there ? Do we live on the top or bottom of the world, 
sir?" &c. &c., questions that may very easily be answered in 
one lesson, which I have always found the pleasantest lesson 
the child ever learns. With the exception of this one lesson 
then, I would begin as near home as my means of illustration 
would admit. But, alas, how defective are these means ! 
Suppose that, in obedience to the directions in a geography 
published in this very city,^ the teacher should begin at the 
School-room. He will naturally look into the book for infor- 
mation as to the vicinity, but so far from finding any at the 
beginning of the book, he finds not one word about Connecti- 
cut until he reaches the one hundred and ninety-fourth page, 
and of three hundred and fifty-two pages, but one is devoted 
to Connecticut, and nearly half of this is a picture of Yale 
College. Another popular geography, containing three hun- 
dred and twelve pages, and published also in Hartford, 
gives your state but 07ie page and a half. A third geog- 
raphy, published in New York, and much used, gives 
Connecticut three of its two hundred and eighty-eight 
pages, including, however, a view of Hartford, and what 
would be a view of Yale College, if the trees did not conceal 
all the buildings. The geography perhaps the most extensively 
used in this country, and published in Philadelphia, out of 
three hundred and thirty-six pages, allows Connecticut about 
tioo, including a picture of a school-house, and a wagon of 
emigrants going west ; but whether the wagon points out the 

*The Lecture was delivered at Hartford. Conn. 



100 THE teachers' INSTITUTE. 

object of the school, or whether both these objects are peculiar 
to this state, we are not informed. Finally, the geography 
until lately used in the schools of Boston, and, I think, 
published in that city, contains three hundred and thirty 
pages, and spares one to Connecticut, but then, it is a whole 
page, without the drawback of a picture. The number of 
pages devoted to Massachusetts in each of these books, is 
hardly greater than is given to Connecticut, and yet our 
children learn nothing of our state, but the few pages I have 
named, and can you wonder that they know as little of Mas- 
sachusetts or Connecticut as they do of Tartary or Ethiopia ? 
I hope these details will be excused on account of the impor- 
tant bearing they hfive upon our schools. Few of our children 
ever go beyond the limits of our state, and no geographical 
knowledge can be so important to them as the knowledge of 
that state with which they are so intimately connected ; and 
yet, for half a century, we have been contented to let them 
study every thing but this, apparently supposing that a compe- 
tent knowledge of their own state is born with them, and, 
being an instinct, needs no cultivation. 

Some most important apparatus has been provided of late 
for the instruction of the young in the elements of geography; 
I refer to black-boards and outline maps. These seem to be 
all the teacher would require, if he were what he ought to be ; 
but as he is what he is, some textbook must guide him, or he 
and his scholars will all be lost, if they wander a furlong from 
home. Black-boards may be made a substitute for outline 
maps, but they serve better as helpers, and it is far better to 
use both, and always to have a globe at hand to correct the 
wrong impressions which children are so apt to receive from 
maps, however drawn. If not familiar with the globe, they 
will be constantly inclined to think the surface of the earth 
flat as a map. Being accustomed to hold the northern part 
of their maps elevated, they will naturally connect the idea of 
up with north, and of down with south, and, perhaps, to this we 
may attribute, in a great measure, the mistake in regard to the 
course of Niagara river, to which I have before alluded, for its 
course is almost directly north. The presence of the globe is 
also necesssary to prevent the mischief that arises from using 
maps drawn, as they must be, on various scales. The map of the 
world must correct this error, if no globe is at hand ; but the 
map of the world is on a plane, and needs a globe to correct 
itself. Sometimes, to correct erroneous notions, I have hung 



GEOGRAPHY. 101 

maps apside down before the class. The outline map is a 
safe assistant, in so far as it presents only such points of geog- 
raphy as are always true and unchangeable, and is not apt to 
be crowded with the less important matters which obscure 
other maps. The practical teacher may accustom the child 
to look upon it as upon the earth's surface ; he may point out 
the general features of the country, the elevations and depres- 
sions, and their connection with the source and course of 
rivers ; and a few lessons of this sort, that require no book, 
would save the poor children, and the poor rivers also, a deal 
of up-hill labor. 

The textbooks would be a less important concern, if the 
teachers were all they ought to be ; but we have reason to 
believe that the character of our teachers has of late been 
greatly improved, though not, perhaps, in proportion to the 
additional duties imposed upon them. Before they could 
become expert in teaching those elementary branches which 
satisfied our fathers, new branches have been introduced, until 
we seem to be in danger of having a surplus of colleges, 
without any good schools. It would, in my opinion, be wiser 
far to teach a little, well, and to have the instruction such only 
as will be available in the world. Small as the amount of 
learning is, that our children acquire at school, a large portion 
of it is as unfit for use as if it were never intended to be used. 
Grammar is any thing but learning the correct use of language ; 
geography is pantology, as I have shown ; the too early intro- 
duction of algebra has made almost a negative quantity of 
common practical arithmetic ; those who have mastered book- 
keeping, seem to understand only the waste; proficients in 
astronomy cannot tell the Little Dog from the Great Bear ; 
profound botanists descant on the structure and repeat the 
hard names of exotics, without knowing the name, or the class, 
or the virtues of the plants on which they daily tread ; and 
thousands, who are reported to have mastered a foreign 
language, cannot pronounce a word of it correctly. This 
ought not to be so. Progress is desirable, but not at such an 
expense. Let me, however, return to my subject. Geography 
is a science that may, in a great measure, be exhibited to the 
senses, and it is the duty of the teacher to call in their aid in 
every possible manner. If the countries cannot be brought 
under the eye of the pupil, the best maps of them must be ; 
and when, in this way, a clear idea is communicated to the 
mind, there is no need of committing words to memory. 



102 THE teachers' INSTITUTE. 

And, in attempting such illustrations, let not the young 
teacher be discouraged at the idea that he may not execute a 
map as readily, or as well as a veteran teacher might do it. 
Whether he knows how to go to work or not, let him rely on 
the perfecting power of practice. Be nolf afraid, therefore, 
to attempt whatever others have done, and let no fear of 
failure or love of ease induce you to shrink from any real 
improvement. Above all, do not impose upon your pupils 
any system of instruction which mocks them with a show of 
learning, while, by leaving no useful and permanent im- 
pressions on the mind, it really inflicts upon the innocent a 
punishment not unlike that of the guilty Danaides, who were 
condemned to be perpetually filling with water a vessel whose 
bottom was full of holes. 



As my general ideas on the subject of geography are con- 
tained in the preceding lecture, I shall endeavor now to give 
such a particular account of my manner of teaching, as will 
enable the teacher to carry out those ideas which have not 
been sufficiently explained. 

I lay it down as an axiom, that geography, adapted to 
common schools, must be limited almost entirely to topog- 
raphy, and such views of the surface of the earth as do not 
properly belong to any other science. When narrowed down 
to this, it may be understood by children, for it may be made 
an exercise of the senses. When I commenced teaching, the 
geographical textbooks were not essentially diflferent from 
what they are now. Then, as now, they contained much 
irrelevant matter, which was either neglected by the learner, 
or, if learned, was not only forgotten, but seemed to prevent 
all attention to such parts of geography as were really intelli- 
gible to children, and worthy of being remembered. 

While instructing at the Teachers' Institutes, I have had a 
good opportunity to verify all my fears upon the inutility of 
teaching geography by means of the common class books. 
It is but fair to conclude that the thousand teachers whom I 
have met, had been as carefully instructed in geography as 
any pupils that have ever issued from our common schools 
and academies. They had ^11 learned books by heart, and 
had taught their pupils to do the same. Of the descriptive 
part of geography they remembered very little, and so far from 
being able to sketch a picture of •any country from memory, 
on the black-board, or on paper, the majority of them did not 



GEOGRAPHY. 103 

venture to draw a map from a copy placed before them, and 
many had never attempted to do this. When called on to 
name islands, or rivers, or even towns, — to name them, not 
to describe their situation or other peculiarities, — their list 
was soon exhausted ; and they were always astonished at the 
fact which this experiment revealed, for the first time evi- 
dently, to themselves. I hope ihej will excuse me for 
alluding to what some may think it my duty to conceal ; but 
the great reform to which I am assured that my few imperfect 
lessons has led, satisfies me that they themselves would now 
use this argument, the strongest that can be produced, of the 
insufficiency of our popular textbooks, and of the prevalent 
method of teaching geography ; for, surely, if the best pupils 
of our schools become teachers, and, after teaching, are still 
deficient in a tolerable knowledge of the easiest part of the 
science, topography, time has been wasted, money has been 
wasted, health has been squandered ; all, pupils, teachers, 
parents, have been deceived, and a thorough reform is 
needed, is demanded. 

I do not speak at hazard on this subject; I saw the futility 
of this whole system of instruction, the first year of my teach- 
ing, and from that time to this, I have avoided it, with how 
much reason, my pupils, and the young teachers with whom 
I have so lately compared systems, must determine. I do 
not fall below any one in my estimate of the importance of 
studying the history, climate, products, natural history, 
geology and other peculiarities of each portion of the earth ; I 
only differ from others in regard to the time when these may 
best be connected with topography, and to the manner of that 
connection. But I have touched upon this in my lecture, and 
must now proceed to my lesson. 

Let me suppose, then, that a class of small children stand 
before me, ready to receive their first lesson in geography. I 
should proceed with them somewhat in this manner. 

My little friends, do you know what is meant by the 
earth ? — Dirt, says one. — What we live on, says another. 

Can you see the whole of the earth w^e live on ? — No ; I 
guess we can't. 

Why not ? — It is so big, says one. — It is so long, says 
another. 

No ; these are not the reasons. When you approach a 
town what do you see first? — The houses, says one. — The 
highest trees, says another. — The steeples, says a third 



104 



THE TEACHERS INSTITUTE. 



Why do you see the highest things first ? When asking 
this question, stand a short thing and a long thing beside 
each other on a level form or table, and ask again, Why 
should I not see the bottom as well as the top of these 
things ? 

Let the pupils guess as long as they please, and then chalk 
part of a circle on the black-board, if you have not a large 
globe, and drawing something for a man on the topmost part 
of the curve, (I always drew what are called " dot and line 
men" for such purposes.) Draw another line from his head, 
so that it shall touch a remote part of the curve and glance 
off in a straight line, then make a steeple or tree whose top 
shall rise above the line, thus : 




Then ask. Can any one tell now, why one litile man sees the 
top of the tree before he sees its trunk, and why the other 
man sees the whole tree ? 

There 's a swell between them, says one, at last. 

Weil, wherever you stand on the earth, it is just so, and 
this swell, among other things, has led men to think that the 
earth must be round, like an orange or an apple. 

This earth is not only round, but it keeps turning round all 
the time. Here run a long pencil or a wooden skewer, 
through an apple or a round potato,=^ and say. The earth 
turns just so, and always in the same direction. 

* I mention this rude apparatus becanse it is common for district teachers 
to complain of the want of globes and other expensive apparatus, whon qood 



GEOGRAPHY. 105 

Does it turn on a stick, sir? — No, it turns on nothing. 
God made it, and turned it, and his power keeps it turning 
just as certainly as if it turned on an axletree. 

Now, stick a pin into the apple, and say, there, Mary or 
John, suppose that pin to be you, and the pin's head to be 
your head. There you stand ! Well, the earth turns 
entirely round in a day and night, or, w4iat is the same thing, 
in twenty-four hours. How many hours will it take it to 
turn half way round? — Twelve hours, says some one. — Well, 
let us turn it half round, and put another pin at the top, right 
opposite the other. 

But, says John, looking big with his discovery, if we 
turned round so, we should fall off, shouldn't we, Mary? — I 
think we should, says Mary, unless we are fastened on some- 
how or other. 

No, the earth draws you to itself, and keeps you on in spite 
of yourselves. — How can it draw w^ithout arms ? says one. 
— Why don't we see it draw ? says another. 

Did you ever see a loadstone or a magnet ? children. — No, 
sir, or Yes, sir. — Well, here is a small one. Do you see it 
draw this needle ? — Yes, say they all. — Where are its arms ? 
Can it draw without arms ? — Yes, it does ; I see it draw. — 
No, you do not see it draw, you only see the needle move 
towards it. 

Well, says one, w^e don't move towards the earth ; we 
are touching it. — Jump up, John, as high as you can, and 
don't come down again. — I can't stay up, says John ; I must 
come down. — Yes, if you get away from the earth, you 
are drawn right back towards it. The earth is like a great 
magnet, and draws you as this little magnet draws the 
needle. 

Here is a slick of sealing- w^ax. If I rub it a moment on 
my woollen coat, and place it near little pieces of paper or 
quill-feathers, it will draw them in the same manner. 

The largest things are drawn the hardest. When I lift 
you, John, I only pull you away from the earth, which is 
^trying to hold you down. I am larger than you, and the 
same strength that would lift you would not raise me, for the 
earth draws me much harder than it does you. The resist- 
ance that you meet with when you try to lift any thing is 

substitutes, that cost nothing, are scattered on every side of them. For a 
general rule, the best apparatus for schools is that which costs the least. 



106 THE teachers' INSTITUTE. 

called its weight, but there would be no weight, if the earth 
did not pull as it does. 

But this has not much to do with geography, my young 
friends. I only showed you this apple, and turned it to 
show you that some parts of the apple turn faster than other 
parts. 

How can that be, sir, if all turn round in the same time ? 
says Mary. 

See for yourselves. John, stick a pin into the apple as far 
from the two ends of the stick as you can. Very well. 
Now, stick one as near one end of the stick as you can. 
Very well, again. Now, stick one half way between the 
other two. Very well. Now see me turn the apple, and 
tell me which goes the furthest in once turning round. 

This one in the middle, says John, goes the furthest, and 
that hardly goes at all — it only turns round the end of the 
stick. — Well, if one goes so much further than the other in 
the same time, which must move the fastest ? 

I didn't think of that before, said John. — Well, then, the 
parts that go the least distance, and turn the slowest, must be 
the very spots v/here the ends of the stick are, must they 
not? 

Yes ; unless the earth waggles sometimes, says Mary. 

But it never waggles, as you call it ; it always turns just 
so, as exactly as this apple must turn on this stick, and ail I 
have been saying to you was intended to teach you this ; for 
the earth has two spots that almost stand still while all the 
rest turns, and these two spots are always in the same part of 
the earth, and men call them the poles, because the earth 
turns on them as exactly as if they were the ends of a pole. 
One is called the North pole, and the opposite spot the south 
pole. Anything that points towards that pole, points north, 
and the north, of course, is always one way. On some 
steeples, you see N. S. and E. W. under the vane, and this 
means that, when the vane points to N., it points north, and 
when it points in the opposite direction, it points to the other 
still spot, which we call south. When you face the north 
spot, or pole, the right hand points to no such still spot,' 
but we say it points east, and the left hand points west. 

Now let the teacher instantly mark on the floor, or on the 
ceiling of the school-room, which is the preferable place, these 
four chief points ; and, if he wishes further to please the 
class, let him ask -each child in which direction his home 



GEOGRAPHY 107 

lies ; in which the sun rises or sets ; in which direction the 
church is, or any hill, or other visible object well known to 
the child. 

Now take a globe, — any one will do, — and show the child 
the State, or the spot on which he lives. Make him see how 
small it is compared with the whole earth, or globe, or 
world. ^"^ 

Let hini tell which pole is nearest to his home. Then, 
while you turn an apple on the stick, let him chalk or scratch 
a line round it, just as far from one pole as from the other. 
Let the j)^?^^ do this, for it will delight him, and he will 
neyer forget the name of that circle, nor why it is drawn 
there, and called the Equator, or equaller. The teacher 
should always let the pupils take part in the illustration, if 
they can. 

Then you may ask him in which half he lives, the 
northern or the southern ? Which way from his home the 
equator lies ? &c. &c. 

If you please, you may let him mark a parallel to the 
equator that shall pass through his home, and a meridian that 
shall do the same.t But, the object of this first lesson should 
be to teach the child what is meant by north, and what rela- 
tion home bears to the whole globe. 

When this is done, you may proceed at once to teach, from 
home, all that is important in the town, in the neighboring 
towns, in the county, in the state, in the United States, in 
North America, in the Western continent, in the wide 
world. 

But, previously to doing this to any extent, it is desirable 
to teach what is meant by a map ; what the divisions of land 
and water mean ; and how they are represented on the globe, 
and on maps. 

Take the Atlas, and lay open the map of the I^astern and 
Western hemispheres. Then take the apple, and cutting it 
from pole to pole, open it as if there were a hinge on the side 
nearest to you, and lay it down on the two hemispheres. If 
the atlas contains a map of the northern and southern hemi- 

"^ Earth having reference to the substance, ^Zo6e to the form, and zcor/ci 
{whirled] to the motion. 

"^ t An interesting and expeditious method of drawing circles, parallek, 
meridians, &c., without instruments, is described in the introductions to my 
Elementary Geography and Common School Geography, and with, as well as 
without; instruments in my " Eye and [land." 



108 



THE TEACHERS INSTl 



spheres, cut another apple at the equator, and open that, and 
laying it down, show how the poles come in the centre, and 
why the circumference is the equator. 




^ovWf^^It^ 




To show the divisions of land and water, take the globe, if 
you have one, and, if not, a map of the hemispheres. Show 
how land is marked, and how water. Place your pen on 



GEOGRAPHY 109 

various spots, and ask, " Is this land, or water ? " When this 
is understood, proceed to minor divisions. 

Point out the oceans and the continents, — all the oceans 
and all the continents. Show, by comparing the map and the 
apple, how the oceans are divided. Show what an island is, 
and let each child, in turn, point to one, as long as any new 
ones can be found. Show what a peninsula is, and let them 
point out peninsulas as long as they find any. Then take 
lakes or seas, explain each, and let the children show them 
as long as they can. Be sure to take one division at a time, 
for in this way you are to teach what the divisions are. After 
the child knows them, you may review him by pointing to 
them promiscuously, and asking to what division they belong, 
whether islands, lakes, or what ? 

I believe my Geography was the first, in this country at 
least, that taught the geography of every country, by any 
system that classed the divisions of land and water, and it is 
still the most thorough in regard to this sort of classification. 

Until lately, the Massachusetts child had no means of 
learning the geography of his town, county and state; and, 
strange as it may seem, it is true at this moment, as it has 
always been, that no geography, except mine, furnishes means 
of learning even an outline of the geography of Massachusetts. 
Two or three pages have been all that could be spared to this 
important state, and these are all that our children have been 
taught. The consequence is, that they often know less of the 
geography of their own state, than of China or Ethiopia, and 
some teachers, that I have met, could not mention a dozen 
towns of Massachusetts, and tell in what county they were 
situated. 

My Elementary Geography for Massachusetts children, 
after giving a due proportion of general geograph}'-, devotes one 
half of the book to Massachusetts. There is a map of every 
county, and every town in each county is distinctly marked 
on the county map, and described in the book. 

Furthermore, I have prepared a large outline map, much 
larger than that published by the Legislature, on which every 
town is marked and bounded, with its prominent hills, ponds, 
streams, villages, &c. &c. This is intended to be suspended 
before the class, when they are reviewing the lessons learned 
on small maps in the book, which correspond to this large one. 
The teacher, too, with a fescue, will frequently travel over 
the large map with his class, and make them as familiar with 
10 



110 THE teachers' INSTITUTE. 

every county, town, river, railroad, &:c., as they are with the 
road to church. 

I know not how I can further illustrate my method more 
effectually than by giving a brief analysis of my Common 
School Geography. 

At first, such a general idea of the world, as has just been 
given, is attempted. Then a few questions, to be answered 
by an examination of the map of the world, are given, but so 
given, that the child, by searching the maps, can find out the 
answers, without a key, and without troubling the teacher. 
For instance, instead of asking the child where the Atlantic 
Ocean is, the question is, " What large body of water separ- 
ates America from Europe and Africa ? " He knows water 
from land, and he has been taught by previous questions 
where the five grand divisions of land are situated. Every 
question throughout the book is based upon knowledge 
previously attained, but a test of the accuracy and thorough- 
ness of the child's knowledge of one lesson is applied in the 
next that follows ; for, after the child has, by searching, found 
out the answer to the question above mentioned, he is met 
with the question reversed, thus, " Where is the Atlantic 
Ocean ? " Every question in the book has its reversed ques- 
tion of this sort, and the object is, not only to enable the child 
to learn the lesson by his own exertions, but to prevent a 
defect not unlike that which is often seen in arithmetic, when 
children can tell how many 7 times 9 are, but cannot tell 
how many are 9 times 7. 

After a very general idea of the world, as a whole, is thus 
given, the map of Massachusetts is taken, and questions relat- 
ing to that are asked in the same manner, and afterwards they 
are put in another form, as before described. The Geography 
contains a small outline of Massachusetts, in which the coun- 
ties only are represented. While learning the relative position 
of the counties, the child, however young, is required to copy 
the map on the slate or black-board repeatedly. I have met 
with many teachers who pretended that they could not do 
this, but I never met with a child who studied geography and 
refused to draw such a map as I have mentioned. Children 
love to draw, and although at first, their work is very imper- 
fect, the idea or picture in the mind is more correct than that 
on the slate, and practice will soon render the latter very 
exact, and the former almost indelible. 

Since the first Teachers' Institutes were held, the number 



GEOGRAPHY. Ill 

of teachers who require their pupils to draw maps has very 
greatly increased. Many, however, still shrink from it, 
because they are unused to the exercise, but this obstacle will 
soon be removed by the practice they will acquire in examin- 
ing the work of their pupils. Many who can draw cannot 
print ; but how soon they will learn the form of letters when 
they once attempt to make them ! The method of teaching 
the alphabet that I have proposed, will, if pursued, remove all 
objection on this score. 

But maps drawn on the slate, and on the black-board, are 
soon erased, and are rarely drawn with so much care and 
accuracy as those done on paper. Let the children, therefore, 
immediately begin to draw on paper also. In this exercise 
no instruments should be used but the eye, the fingers and 
the pencil or pen. It is more important to train the eye and 
the hand than to have a perfect drawing; and no one who has 
not seen the effect of practice would believe me were I to 
relate some instances that I have witnessed, in very young 
pupils, of almost perfect accuracy attained without the aid of 
any instrument, even a common rule or dividers. 

The immense advantage of such a trained eye and hand to 
man or woman must be seen without an argument ; and yet, 
although by early training it may be acquired by almost 
every one, how few have even a tolerable degree of skill or 
accuracy in this exercise. At the risk of making my book 
too large, I have already given some instruction in this matter 
of drawing, and, therefore, I shall only say here, that, if the 
drawing of maps were not the most effectual method of fixing 
the topography of countries in the memory, its value as an 
exercise of the eye and hand should make it an indispensable 
exercise in every school. 

But what sort of maps shall be drawn by beginners? 
Small ones, by all means. The rule should be to draw the 
map that relates to the lesson in preference to any other, and 
to put upon it only such rivers, towns and other divisions of 
land and water as are mentioned in the lesson. A specimen 
of this course is given in my geographies, by which any 
teacher can be guided, whether his pupils use the book or 
not. 

It will save the teacher much trouble if, at the outset, he 
writes on a sheet of paper, the order in which maps shall be 
drawn, and puts it up in some place easily accessible to the 
pupils. They will not then be troubling him with the ques- 



112 THE teachers' INSTITUTE. 

tion, " What map shall I draw next, sir ? " In my Geography, 
the map of the United States furnishes twenty pages of lessons, 
and while the class is learning these, separate maps of every 
state should be drawn on the slate, and on the black-board, 
and finally, for preservation, on paper. The children will 
leEirn the lessons the first time sooner than they will draw all 
the maps, but they will do better to go over the questions 
again than to proceed to another map. 

Let all the maps be drawn on paper of uniform size, say an 
eighth of a sheet of letter paper ; this the teacher must require, 
and he must require every piece to be neatly torn or cut, and 
this the child can easily be taught to do. Let him fold the 
paper once, then scrape the edge to be torn with his thumb or 
finger nail, and then carefully tear it, or cut it with a dull 
knife. Let him then fold, and scratch, and tear again, till the 
paper is of the right size. This uniformity of size and neat- 
ness of edge may seem to be a small matter, but I can assure 
the teacher that, if he does not always^ in all things, attend 
to such matters, his pupils will always be deficient in neat- 
ness and order. After my pupils had drawn their maps in 
this way, and shown them to me, they were required to fold 
them up uniformly, as a merchant folds his letters and bills, 
maps in one file, orthographical exercises in another, and so 
with other branches, and each exercise was required to be 
labelled so that its contents might be known without taking it 
from the bundle. I verily believe that, by this course, I did 
more to induce a habit of order and neatness, than I could 
have done by all the lectures that I could have preached, if I 
had done nothing but preach, for the whole term of a school 
life. The neatness with which some of my pupils filed and 
labelled their exercises would have done credit to one of our 
Pearl street accountants. 

This care of exercises had another good effect. No loose 
papers were seen strowed over the desks of the pupils ; the 
books were not thrown into the desks any how, but every thing 
in the desk was arranged in order, and I made it a point to 
examine every desk often, to commend the neat, and to warn 
or instruct the careless. I may say more on this subject when 
I come to the subject of neatness, but I must now return to 
the description of the manner of drawing maps on paper, with 
ink. 

There is an order to be observed in the drawing of a map, 
and the pupil must be taught first to draw the outline with a 



GEOGRAPHY. 



113 



lead pencil ; next, he must ink it neatly with a pen. Then, 
if ever, he must color it. Next, let him draw the rivers and 
mountains. Then let him make the little o that marks the 
situation of towns, and then let him print, not write, the 
names, so that they will bear upon the o, and not be so far 
from it as to appear to belong to something else. 

In coloring maps, only three or four good colors are 
needed. India ink, Prussian blue, lake, gamboge and green 
verditer, are enough ; and as no child would use a large cake 
in a long term, and small cakes are generally of poor quality, 
the teacher should purchase some large cakes, and cut them 
up, so that a piece of each of the five colors named will only 
cost about as much as one whole cake of either. The best 
way to use these paints is to rub off a little of each color upon 
a saucer or other piece of crockery ware. One hair pencil 
will do, if well washed before the color is changed ; but, as 
hair pencils can be bought for about a cent apiece, the neat 
pupil will try to have a hair pencil for every color. A little 
mug of water will be found useful, if it be only to prevent 
the dirty practice of wetting the brush with the mouth, — a 
practice not uncommon in schools where painting is taught, 
and not always free from danger, some paints, especially the 
greens, containing poisonous ingredients. 

In shading the shores of a country or of a lake, India ink 
should be used, and to do the work perfectly, the pupil should 
have two brushes. With one he must draw a small portion 
of the coast neatly, and, while it is wet he must take the 
other brush, which is clean, but wet, and spread the India 
ink from the shore outward. Do but a little of the shore at a 
time, for, if the ink dries before it is spread with the wet 
brush, it can never be well spread afterwards. 

Let us now return to the description of my Geography. At 
the first lessons, specimens of map-drawing are given, that 
the pupil may see what is expected of him. The lessons 
proceed from his own state to the United States, North 
America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, 
and Polynesia. Every country is treated systematically ; 
that is, each division of land and water is by itself. Nothing 
is to be committed to memory, the practice of examining and 
drawing maps most effectually communicating and fixing the 
ideas. 

After every map has been gone over in this way, there is a 
series of lessons in what are called Voyages and Travels. 



114 THE teachers' INSTITUTE. 

Questions are asked which oblige the child to travel over 
every map, and describe the countries, rivers, seas, &c., that 
he passes over. Among other lessons, an account of the 
voyages of Columbus, Cook, La Peyrouse, Vancouver, and 
Kruzenstern is given, and this sort of exercise may be con- 
tinued to any extent by the teacher. 

But the child thus far has only studied the countries separ- 
ately, and a General Review is now provided for, in which 
all the countries, towns, rivers, islands, and other divisions of 
the whole world are introduced, not with a table of statistics 
to burden the memory of the child, but in such order as to 
show the relative size of each, and enable the child to com- 
pare known countries and objects with the remote and 
unknown. 

An appendix follows, in which some of the maps, especially 
that of Massachusetts, is more particularly described than at 
the beginning of the book. Next come practical exercises on 
the latitude and longitude of places ; the difference of time 
produced by a difference of longitude, and of climate by a 
difference of latitude ; to all which is added a list of names 
used in the book, in whose pronunciation there is any diffi- 
culty. 

In the Geography thus briefly described, there are three 
peculiarities not to be found, I think, in any other. 

1. It contains little or no matter that may be considered 
changeable. In most cases, a revised edition of a geography 
differs so much from former editions, that the new books will 
not class with the old, and the teacher must be troubled with 
different books in the same class ; or must form two classes ; or 
must throw away the old books as worthless. The perma- 
nent materials of the Common School Geography will prevent 
any evils of this sort. 

2. The second peculiarity is the order and distinct classifi- 
cation which pervade the whole book. There is no jumbling 
of all the sciences together. Pure geography only is taught, 
and this is taught in order. Instead of introducing history, 
philosophy, and a variety of other matters to impress the 
topograph)?- of a country on the memory, the child is taught to 
travel over the territory, and draw its outlines, until a never- 
fading picture is delineated in the mind. 

3. The book, though not a large one, is sufficient for any 
district school, and contains within itself the materials for 
never-ending progress, if the directions in the book are fol- 



GEOGRAPHY. 115 

lowed by the teacher. The first time the child goes through 
the book, he is required to give one particular only. When 
asked where is Boston, for instance, he will say it is the 
capital of Massachusetts. Next time he may be required to 
tell its situation at the east of the state. Next time he goes 
through, he may say it is mostly situated on a peninsula, at 
the head of Boston Bay, which is an arm of Massachusetts 
Bay. Next, he may give all that has before been given, and 
add its latitude and longitude ; — or, a class may be required 
to name some town, or island, or river, in turn, as long as any 
mentioned in the books have not been named. Confine this 
operation to one country until all the names of every division 
of land and water are familiar ; then include the whole conti- 
nent ; then the whole world. After they can readily name 
all the towns, or all the islands, &c., in the book, let them be 
allowed to take their maps, and go as much further as they 
please. The mere naming of the place or thing, however, 
must not suffice, but some particular relating to it should be 
described, so that there can be no question that the child 
knows where it is situated. I generally required my class to 
stand during this exercise, so that they could have no access 
to books or maps. Then they answered in turn, trying but 
once, and sitting if they could recollect no new name, or 
named what had previously been named by another. 

As far as ray knowledge extends, this was the first book 
that recommended the reading of newspapers to the upper 
classes in geography. Every teacher knows that, much of 
the geography taught in our schools is not such as is of every 
day use in society and common life ; and perhaps nothing so 
completely shows what should be taught for geography as 
these very newspapers. All that is doing in the world is 
there recorded long before it gets into books. The mere 
record of arrivals and clearances is an excellent lesson. The 
reading of the news shows in what the books are deficient, 
and if, while the teacher is reading, the children, atlas in 
hand, find the places mentioned, or, slate in hand, record 
them, to be found against the next lesson, a fund of geo- 
graphical knowledge will be acquired, that m.ay be sought for 
in vain among the pages of the textbooks. 

Every child that studies geography should be taught to 
draw maps. Next to the orthographical exercises and the 
correction of false grammar, in which I had hundreds of 
manuscript exercises, which I intend, one of these days, to 



116 THE teachers' INSTITUTE. 

publish in the form of a third part to my Common School 
Grammar ; next, I say, to these, for its effect on the industry, 
and, of course, on the discipline of the school, is the drawing 
of maps. How infinitely superior to the common practice of 
sitting idle, or even of committing lessons to memory, would 
be the directing of children to draw maps on a black-board, or 
on a piece of paper. Never let a child have it i7L his power to 
say, '^ I have nothing to do.'''' I believe that, for more than 
twenty years, no pupil of mine could ever say this with 
truth. 

Once a year, it was my custom to let every pupil draw a 
map to be bound in a volume, and kept as a record of the 
ability of each, and as a landmark of the progress of the 
school, as a whole, in this branch of manual skill. I fur- 
nished to every pupil a piece of paper of uniform size, and left 
it to her to draw what map she pleased, and to ornament it 
as her taste might dictate. I have preserved many such 
volumes, and they are to me precious memorials of pupils 
who are now mothers or teachers, or inhabitants of that better 
country not mentioned in our geographies. It is not unusual 
for parents to bring their children to see what " mother did 
when she was of their age;" and it often happens that the first 
and last map the pupil ever drew, is preserved in these 
volumes. In one of them are eight maps, drawn by children, 
five or six years of age, who were not studying geography, 
but who, seeing what the others were doing, requested per- 
mission to draw a map for the book. The outline, printed 
names, and coloring, are entirely their own, and their names 
and ages, well written by themselves, are at the bottom of 
their maps. What would not many men and women give for 
such a specimen of the work of their earliest days ! Every 
district school should have such a book annually bound like 
the School Register, and sacredly kept as the property of the 
town. 



117 



A LECTURE 

On the " Uses and Abuses of Memory hi Education ;" delivered 
at Rochester^ N. F., before the Conventio7i of County 
Suyerintendenis of Common Schools, and first published at 
their request, by William B. Fowle. 

Gentlemen, — The subject on which I propose to offer a 
few plain remarks for your consideration, is Memory — 
Memory, that w^onderful facuUy of the mind which alone per- 
petuates the product of all the others ; which resuscitates the 
past, and enables us to lay up for future use the knowledge 
we may acquire by study or experience. 

What, then, is Memory ? The aged will perhaps tell us 
that it is a gloomy treasure house of regrets ; the young, 
that it has no existence ; the fortunate, that it is a paradise to 
which his constantly receding footsteps would fain return, but 
from which he is constantly driven by the flaming sword of 
his onward destiny, — while, to the disappointed, memory is a 
barren w^aste, without one verdant spot; a cheerless desert, 
where the monuments that rise over buried hopes, never cease 
to cast their deep shadows upon the present scene. In this 
sense, memory is very much what our propensities and habits, 
our virtues and vices, may make it ; but the memory with which 
teachers have to do is less poetical, — a more matter of fact 
affair, and as such only would it become me now to speak of it. 

As all discipline of the mind depends upon a proper educa- 
tion of this wonderful faculty, it is important, surely, that we 
should endeavor to ascertain what it is, and we naturally go 
to the metaphysicians and put the question to them ; but the 
definitions of these philosophers are as various as they are 
unsatisfactory. Whilst all acknowledge that memory is a 
faculty of the mind, all have been puzzled to tell how it is 
connected with the mind, and how it operates. 

One maintains that it is only a continued but weakened 
perception, (that is, a feeling not repeated, but forever felt.) 

Another says it is only what remains after a sensation, 
(like the vibration of a string that is never to be struck 
again.) 



118 THE teachers' INSTITUTE. 

A third declares it to be a sensation, or an idea renewed 
(but he could not tell us what renews it.) 

A fourth tells us that it is a sort of sensibility so delicate 
that it can be afiected by a past sensation, (as a place once 
struck is susceptible to a slighter blow afterwards; but we are 
not told how, or by what the repeated blow is given.) 

A fifth has called memory that faculty which experiences 
anew what has been already perceived, with the conscious- 
ness that it has been previously perceived; (but this is a state- 
ment of facts, and no explanation of them.) 

A sixth describes memory to be a power of the mind to 
revive or recall former impressions. 

A seventh insists that memory is not itself a faculty, but an 
attribute of every other faculty, and this, it appears to me, is 
the only theory that a teacher can tolerate for a moment. 

But, although the descriptions of this mysterious faculty 
have been se» various, not so have been the systems of instruc- 
tion based upon them, for these have been very uniform, and, 
I fear, uniformly erroneous. All the theories of memory, but 
the last I mentioned, agree that it is a single power of the 
entire mind, and that it only requires an act of the will for 
the mind to perform one act of memory as well as another. 
h). other words, the common notion seems to be, that every 
mental storehouse is fitted up for the same kind of goods, and 
it is the duty of the teacher to fill all alike -, and this attempt 
at filling is often carried on until school days are over, when 
the mind, no longer controlled, for the first time discovers its 
own fitness and capacity, and begins to accumulate treasures 
entirely different, perhaps, from those which had been forced 
down, notwithstanding the disgust and nausea that always 
accompanied the operation. 

We do not know what the mind is, and we can hardly 
expect to understand all its faculties. But, as in the case of 
electricity and the subtler fluids, if we cannot ascertain the 
nature of memory, we may ascertain some of its laws ; and 
by this method we may approach nearer and nearer to that 
seat of the mind, which is surrounded with clouds almost as 
impenetrable as t?iose tremendous shades which involve the 
eternal throne ; and though mortals may not hope to be admit- 
ted to the secret place where light actually dwelleth, we may, 
we must ascertain something more of its nature and of its laws, 
or the very light that is in us will continue to be darkness. 

I have said, that various a§,are the theories of memory, the 



MEMORY. 



119 



use that is made of it in education is altogether too uniform. 
So prevalent is the error on this subject, that when men speak 
of memory, it rarely happens that any other operation of the 
mind is meant than that which we exercise in common with 
parrots, I mean the recollection of words. You, who are 
teachers, know, that when parents bring their little unfledged 
angels to you, and wish to make you sensible of their prodig- 
ious talents, the burden of praise almost uniformly is, that they 
can commit ever so many pages at a lesson. Commit ! — yes, 
and commit suicide at the same time. It is this notion, this 
mistaking of the mere memory of words for the whole of 
memory, that I consider the unpardonable sin of teachers and 
bookmakers at the present day. I hope my remarks will not 
be considered as those of one, who, having laid aside the 
harness, has no better use for his leisure than to make obser- 
vations upon those whom he has left in the traces ; but rather 
as the remarks of one, who, for twenty years at least, has 
practised what he now preaches, and who has reason to 
believe that thousands of his late fellow-laborers would be glad 
to adopt the system he recommends, if those who superintend 
their schools would second their endeavors, and supply the 
means of communicating ideas instead of words. 

Let us consider for a moment the position I have assumed, 
that the memory of words is generally considered the whole 
of memory. What is the first employment of the mind in the 
nursery ? Learning to say things by heart ; that is, to say 
them heartlessly. When 1 was at a dame's school, I learned 
the Assembly's Catechism, — the compend of it that was then 
printed in the N. E. Primer, — so thoroughly, that I could 
repeat it backwards as well as forwards, and understood it one 
way just as well as the other. When the dame had visitors, 
I was often brought forward to perform this feat, crab-fashion, 
to the great amazement of the visitors, the glorification of the 
venerable dame, and to my own great edification in Christian 
knowledge and humility ! God forgive her, if she erred in 
teaching me the first step in that narrow way, whose gate she 
opened with love if not with judgment ! 

Then the child reads books without having them explained, 
and generally without any examination by the teacher, — for 
who, until perhaps very lately, ever heard of examining a 
child in his reading lesson, excefl perhaps to correct the pro- 
nunciation of a word, or to settle the power of a dash or 
comma, -^-although the reading lesson maybe the best medium 



120 THE teachers' INSTITUTE. 

for conveying useful knowledge to the mind, the best opportu- 
nity for teaching the definition of words, the precious occasion 
for inculcating a healthful taste for substantial food ! 

Then, at an early age, English grammar must be studied, 
committed, I mean, for the words are by no means synony- 
mous. The words of some manual must be said or sung for 
a given number of years, until the child arrives at that ne 
plus ultra of philology, " a substantive or noun is the name 
of any thing that exists or of which w^e have any notion, as 
man-mrtiie-London ;'' and then, if the child is at a loss to 
know exactly what sort of notion ^' vian-virtue-London" 
is, he will not fail to learn what it is " to be, to do and to 
suffer.'' 

Geography, of course, cannot long sta}^ uncommitted. A 
book is placed in the child's hands, containing on an average, 
about 850 pages. The committing of this to memory is 
generally the work of years, and, by the time the task is done, 
the world has so changed, that more than half the book con- 
tains is incorrect, and the only consolation the poor victim has 
is the consideration that, if what has been learned is not true, 
it will do no harm., for it has been forgotten as fast as it was 
learned. 

Next, the child must study history — study history ! That 
IS, he must commit page after page to memory, or, at least, such 
paragraphs as have been adjudged a sufficient answer to a 
stereotyped question. The meaning of the language is not 
elicited by any impertinent inquiries; the geography of the 
country at different epochs is not allowed to interrupt the 
thread of the narrative, and the practical and moral conclu- 
sions are left, as the gramarians say, understood. 

I could add to this summary, astronomy, botany, the various 
branches of natural history and natural philosophy, the modern 
and ancient languages, and all the branches usually tormented 
in our higher schools ; but I have said enough to illustrate my 
remark, that common school education is generally conducted 
as if there were no memory but that of words, and as if this 
were all that is essential to the proper development of ideas, 
and the full exercise of every intellectual faculty. 

Leaving the school for a moment, let us look abroad into 
the world, and see how facts corroborate this opinion. If you 
select half a dozen persons 'of good intelligence, it is probable 
that the memory of each will be different from the others. 
You will, perhnps, hear the first deploring his wTetched 



MLEMORY. 121 

memory, which cannot recollect his children's names, and, in 
the next breath, he will hum a tune that he has heard but once, 
perhaps, half a century before. Another says he cannot 
remember the name of a person, but if he has seen a man 
once, he never forgets him, and yet he complains of a treach- 
erous memory ! A ihird had no memory at school, and could 
never learn his lessons ; but he can never forget the brutality 
of the master, who regularly flogged him for not doing what 
he would gladly have done if he could. He " never can for- 
get," and yet he has no memory. A fourth^ perhaps, has 
travelled much, and can describe most particularly every route 
or every object he has seen, but as he sometimes forgets an 
appointment or a message, he laments that he has no memory. 
A. fifth can never quote a line of poetry, and concludes she has 
no memory, although the chronicles of scandal are engraved 
on her memory of adamant, and she is not unlike one of our 
western mounds, the capacious receptacle of worthy characters 
that have been slain, and from which the curious may at any 
time extract the sad memorials of human frailty. A sixths in 
fine, who cannot recollect the text at church, or a single senti- 
ment of the discourse, will tell you how long her poorer 
neighbor has worn the same bonnet, and how every person in 
church was dressed ; or, perhaps, she recollects every christen- 
ing for more than half a century, to the great annoyance of 
advanced spinsters and old bachelors, who would prefer to 
have this matter confined to the family Bible. 

If this be a true picture of life, it follows that every person 
has a memory for something, and that something is usually 
what occupies the strongest faculty of the mind, and, of course, 
affords the greatest pleasure. A musician will be more likely 
to remember tunes than sermons ; a mechanic will remember 
the form and operation of machines, better than any written 
description of them. The painter will recollect the color of a 
dress, and the dress-maker the fashion or cut of it. An angry 
person will remember an afTront, and a benevolent person will 
never forget a kindness. Shall a man w' lo remembers words 
most easily, say to any of these, you have no memory ? or 
shall he take airs because he can remember loords, when they 
are so fortunate that they can remember only things ? 

One thing is certain, the memory of words is no criterion 

of intellectual power. Some of the greatest talkers have been 

the shallowest logicians, and some of the greatest linguists 

have been the greatest simpletons. In fact, the memory of 

11 



122 -^E teachers' institute. 

one class of facts is no pledge for the memory of any other, 
and few persons have ever been distinguished in every depart- 
ment of memory. But we are told that this committing to 
memory strengthens the mind and leads to a habit of applica- 
tion. So it does. It does strengthen this particular faculty, 
it does lead to a habit of application, but only to words, con- 
sidered as words, and not as embodying ideas. Let me not 
be misunderstood. I am not contending that a great verbal 
memory, and great general scholarship, great practical knowl- 
edge, are incompatible, bat only that one branch of memory, 
like the high priest's rod, has swallowed up other branches as 
large as itself, and is likely to die of repletion. 

Remarkable verbal memories are almost the only ones that 
have been recorded, and yet every one can recollect remarkable 
memories of other faculties. I spent much time with Zerah 
Colburn before he went to Europe. He was then about five 
years old, and could neither read nor write. His manners 
were so rude that he knew not the use of a knife and fork, 
and when placed at table, he stabbed a large sausage, and 
holding it impaled on his fork, he placed both elbows on the 
table, and nibbled alternately at the ends until the sausage 
disappeared. And yet this untutored child performed calcula- 
tions which involved so many figures, that I could not have 
repeated them from memory after a week's application, but he 
made the calculation, and gave the answer in a few seconds. 
When he was exhibited in London, he was allowed to over- 
work this faculty, and it was destroyed, as the verbal memory 
usually is, by the excessive exercise of it. 

How common it is to hear a teacher complain that his pupil 
will not attend, has not the faculty of attention. But children 
are never destitute of attention. The reason they do not 
attend to the lesson in hand is, that they are attending to 
something else. Attention, like memory, is an attribute of 
every faculty, and it is only where there is no desire that there 
is no attention. A stupid boy may forget his lesson, but he 
will not forget his, J^iinner, and the same operation that puts 
one man into an ecscasy, puts his neighbor to sleep. Children, 
at school, usually prefer one study to another ; what they like 
they attend to, and what they do not like — and this is what 
they have the least capacity for — they disregard. Now, I con- 
ceive the greatest, the highest effort of teaching to consist in 
so clothing useful subje.-ts with interest, that those wlio may 
not love them are stil! induced to attend to them. This 



MEMORY. 123 

exercises the weaker faculties, and increases their ability. As 
the hand or foot acquires strength and skill by judicious exer- 
cise, so does every faculty of the mind ; and as the muscles 
lose their power and skill by inaction, so does every organ of 
the brain. If a child is malicious and quarrelsome, vindictive 
and passionate, you have only to give him cause and opportu- 
nity for the display of his malevolence, to increase -ts power. 
But place this child where his passions w^ill not be excited, 
treat him with unvaried kindness, cultivate his reason and his 
moral sentiments, encourage him to acts of benevolence, and 
set him, an example, and in time his lower propensities will 
become less active and less pov/erful, if not entirely subdued. 
I do not pretend that all evil dispositions can be made good 
ones, nor that all memories can be made equal, for I know 
that there are original and irreconcilable differences ; but 1 
also know that the worst disposition and the w^eakest memory 
may be greatly improved. 

After the view^ which I have taken of memory, it may 
reasonably be expected that 1 should endeavor to show how 
education should be conducted if the view be correct, and it 
be important to improve the whole mind, and not merely a 
portion of it. May I be excused, then, if in doing this I speak 
in the Jirst person, for it is in this person that I have taught 
for twenty years, — and ought I not to add, that when I declare 
what may be done, I only describe what has actually been 
done ? 

As it is certain, then, that the intellect of a child under five 
or six years of age is immature, I should pay less attention to 
that than to the senses, on whose power and correct percep- 
tions so much of the future intellectual progress depends. 
Most children are very observant of the ten thousand objects 
of nature and art that surround them, but they are generally 
left " to find out by their learning," that is, to find out without 
instruction, the qualities and peculiarities of what they see. 
The senses are allowed to take care of themselves, as if they 
could not go wrong, could not acquire bad habits, and must 
come out right at last. It would lead me too far if I should 
follow out this idea, but I have alluded to it that your own 
minds may do so. This early cultivation of the senses is a 
delightful exercise to children ; and clothing, as it does, all 
the objects around them with interest, instead of prom.oting 
sensuality, the surest basis is laid for intellectual and moral 
progi'ess. Conversation, then, with children, about common 



124 THE teachers' institute. 

things, their form, size, color, number, order, feel, smell, taste, 
sound, &c., next after the fear of God, is the true beginning 
of wisdom. 

I should allow the little ©nes as much liberty as is consis- 
tent with tolerable order. I should give them little or nothing 
to commit to memory, and make their exercises light, and vary 
them often. I should not be distressed if they did not know 
their letters in six months or six years, for they can be taught 
ten thousand things more important ; kindness, obedience, 
reverence, truth and justice, will do them far more good than 
the alphabet. If I see any evil propensity displaying itself, 
if I cannot demonstrate the impropriety of it, I shall not punish 
until I have exhausted every means of preventing its indul- 
gence. Prevention is the great principle ; for to my mind 
nothing is more unwise and unjust than the laws which regu- 
late even the best Christian communities. We allow the 
young to run unmolested until they break the law, and then 
we punish them. If a boy discovers ever so vicious a pro- 
pensity, and we are sure that crime must be the consequence, 
we cannot touch him until it is too late ; we cannot restrain 
him ; it is against the law to save him. 

If the little child shows an uncommon aptness for one thing 
more than another, I never allow the predominant faculty to 
be overworked, but I turn my chief attention to the weaker 
faculties that need encouragement. What is generally called 
genius and talent is only the predominance of one faculty 
over the rest. This must be carefully educated, but the others 
must be well attended to, also, or we shall see another example 
of genius without a well-balanced mind ; wonderful talent 
without common sense ; genius that can create other worlds at 
pleasure, without being able to get a decent living in this. 
The merry little being learns to talk, to sing, to think — little 
thoughts, of course — to draw, to count, — anything but her 
money — to play, dance, and be happy, and to make others so. 

But it will not be long before the child will desire to read ; 
and, perhaps, of late, no question has exercised the minds of 
teachers so much as how the first lessons in reading shall be 
given. With the old plan of teaching the names of the letters 
first, and then their various powers, you are acquainted ; the 
new method, which has found friends in the highest rank of 
teachers, proposes the teaching of whole words first, with- 
out regard to the elements of which the words are composed. 



MEMORY. 125 

Of course, the learning of one word is no help to the pronun- 
ciation of a new word ; at least, I have never seen words 
placed in any book on this plan, so that the first words learned 
are a key or help to those which follow. 

I do not deny that a child may learn to read a few words 
in this way sooner than he will if he waits to become 
acquainted with the letters, but I have always found that 
pupils who are allowed to skip the elements of any art or 
science, and revel in its pleasant things, are never willing 
afterwards to go back to those elements, which, though 
omitted at first, must be learned some time or other. Now, 
as no one pretends that the names of the letters and their 
powers need never be learned ; but, on the contrary, as they 
all recommend this, at a later stage of the business, the ques- 
tion seems to be whether, in the end, the new method does 
not cause a loss of time and an increase of labor. 

But we are told the new plan is more pleasant to the child ; 
he prefers words with meaning, to letters and syllables with- 
out. I think, however, that this objection to the old plan 
relies for its force entirely upon the defective manner in which 
the alphabet has usually been taught. If it be important to 
connect ideas with letters, I would engage to connect as many 
with a letter as with any word. It would be difficult to illus- 
trate this position better than by reading a short extract from 
a work called " The Youth of Shakspeare," which, in the 
quaint style of that day, " runneth of this wise." 

" Mother," said young Shakspeare, " I pray you tell me 
something of the fairies of whom nurse Cicely discourseth to 
me so oft. How may little children be possessed of such 
goodness as may make them be well regarded of these same 
fairies, mother ?" " They must be sure to learn their letters 
betimes," replied she, " that they may be able to know the 
proper knowledge writ in books, which, if they know not 
when they grow up, neither fairy nor any other shall esteem 
them to be of any goodness whatsoever." " I warrant you I 
will learn my letters as speedily as I can," replied the boy, 
eagerly. " Nay, I beseech you, mother, teach them to me 
now, for I am exceeding desirous of being thought of some 
goodness. But what good are these same letters of, mother?" 
inquired he, as he took his hornbook from the shelf. " This 
much," replied Dame Shakspeare ; " by knowing of them 
thoroughly, one by one, you shall soon come to be able to 
put them together for the forming of words ; and when you 
11^ 



126 THE teachers' instittite. 

are sufficiently apt at that, you shall thereby come to oe 
learned enough to read all such words as are in any sentence, 
which you shall find to be only made up of such ; and when 
the reading of such sentences shall be fomiliar to you, doubt 
not your ability to master whatsoever proper book falleth into 
your hand, for all books are composed only of letters, as I 
shall teach thee straightway." The lesson had not proceeded 
far, when the draper's wife came in. "And what hast got 
here, prithee, that thou art so earnest about?" asked Mrs. 
Dowlass. " A hornbook, as I live ! And dost really know 
thy letters at so early an age?" " Nay, I doubt I can tell 
you them «ZZ," replied Master William, ingenuously, " but, 
methinks, I know a good many of them." Then pointing at 
the several characters, as he named them, he continued : 
" First, here is A, that ever standeth astraddle. Next him is 
B, who is all head and body and no legs. Then cometh C, 
who bulgeth out behind like a very hunchback. After him 
cometh D, who doeth the clean contrary, for his bigness is all 
before. Next," — here he hesitated for some few seconds, 
the others present regarding him with exceeding attentiveness 
and pleasure — "next, here is — alack, dear mother, do tell 
me that fellow's name again, will you, an' it will go hard 
with him if he escape me." 

Think you that a child taught the alphabet in this or any 
similar way, would ever be tired of his lesson ? 

But let us suppose the child has passed the threshold, what 
shall he read ? Not, surely, such books as are levelled down 
to his intellect, for these will keep the intellect down. It is 
better to give him books that he can understand when 
explained, and this explanation it is the duty of the teacher to 
give. I would have the child understand just enough to 
enable him to take an interest in the book, but I would have 
it always beyond his easy grasp. Bring the book down to 
the child's capacity, so that he can understand every word, 
and every idea of it, and he will never wish to read it a 
second time, and will make no progress in ideas or in reading, 
if he is compelled to read it. If I may compare great things 
with small, I will say that the Creator does not teach us to 
read in the book of nature in any such way. We are inter- 
ested in every page that he has spread before us, but we 
understand very little of it. On the second perusal, we learn 
something more; and the more times we read, the better we 
understand, though we are sure we shall never master the 



MEMORY. 127 

9^eat volume. There is a just medium in this matter, and he 
vho consults the nature of children will observe it. Chil- 
Jren, if I know them, prefer to read such books as require not 
"nly a constant stretch of the understanding, but even of the 
imagination ; and such are the best for them, if they are to be 
road more than once. 

But some utilitarians would have all reading books for 
schools filled with lessons in useful knowledge, and, of course, 
would exclude the greater part of our best poetry and works 
of imagination. 

It is true that much useful matter may be introduced into 
school books, and, other things being equal, instructive lessons 
should be preferred ; but the great object for which reading is 
taught in schools must not be lost sight of in the attempt to 
introduce a little of all sorts of knowledge, which will never 
make children good philosophers, and which will assuredly 
prevent them from becoming good and impressive readers. 
Show me a teacher who prefers to use books on this mistaken 
plan, and I will show you one who knows nothing of reading 
as an art. 

In teaching English grammar, I would require little or 
nothing to be learned by rote. If there is any real difference 
between the parts of speech, the child should be obliged to 
think it out, instead of seeking the information in a dictionary. 
Moreover, in teaching English grammar, I would be sure it 
was English. Our language is more simple in its structure 
than any other, and t would teach it in all its simplicity, 
whatever might be the fashion. Not one child in a thousand 
studies any other language than his own, and yet every child 
is obliged to learn grammars that were constructed on foreign 
models. Because Greek had one article, two adjectives were 
set apart from the rest and called articles, that English gram- 
mar might not appear to lack this part of speech. As Latin 
nouns had six cases distinctly marked by a different termina- 
tion, so English nouns must have cases, although they undergo 
no change, or only one in the singular, which renders the 
word no longer the name of a thing, — of course, no longer a 
noun. Because the Greek and Latin, and some modern 
languages, in their various modes of speaking, vary the termi- 
nation of the verb, we also must contrive to have five modes, 
not because we have any change of termination, but because 
we ought to have ! Because the Greeks and Latins, by the 
addition or change of terminations, counted forty or fifty 



12S THE teachers' INSTITUTE. 

methods of expressing tense or time, we, who have but one 
such change of termination, like the simple jackdaw, are strut- 
tmg about with our borrowed feathers, and pretending to be 
classical peacocks. 

In teaching geography, I should require no lessons to be 
committed to memory. • 

The author of the larger geography used in the Boston 
schools, has told us that it was first published in 1819, and, 
after two editions, was stereotyped, or permanently fixed. 
Soon, he adds, it was necessary to re-write it entirely ; and 
then, after two editions, it was stereotyped or fixed again ; 
and he says it may be expected to remain as it is, till a con- 
siderable change shall become desirable, — that is, till an 
unusually large proportion of it is false. In the mean time, 
it must be borne in mind, thousands and tens of thousands of 
children are learning such geographies, with the certainty 
that what they learn, if remembered, will soon be of no value. 
The world will not stay fixed, as the unlucky book does, and 
when there is so much certain and permanent knowledge to 
be learned, is it not cruel to trifle with the young mind thus ? 
It is bad enough to have to commit to memory what is true, 
but it seems unpardonable to oblige a child to " commit " what 
is already false, or avowedly soon to become so. Let it not be 
supposed, however, that the geography alluded to is singular 
in this respect — I believe it is like all others that are popular; 
and a late most popular author solemnly promises in his pref- 
ace not to change his book oftener than once in five years, 
right or Avrong. It is said of one of the worthy governors of 
New Amsterdam, that because the wind had a troublesome 
trick of changing, he was accustomed early in the morning to 
fix the city weathercock for the day ; and in what does his 
conduct differ from that of the author last mentioned ? 

Again, it is generally conceded that the true way to learn 
geography is to begin at home, and travel no faster than we 
get acquainted ; but, as geographies are made to be uni- 
versally used, this beginning at home is impracticable. A 
geography adapted to any particular home, would not be 
likely to have an extensive sale. The utmost we may ask 
then is, that they shall give a particular account of our own 
state. Well, how far have they done this ? Mitchell, 
out of 336 pages, allows the empire state but 4, and these 
include 3 pictures that were not executed by Raphael or 
Benjamin West. Olney's geography allows your great state 



MEMORY. 129 

4 pages out of 288, and these 4 include 3 engravings, not by 
the same great masters. Smith allows you 4 pages out of 
312, and he can only afford 1 engraving. Woodbridge, in his 
new edition, thinks that 2 pages out of 352, with 1 picture, 
are enough for New York ; and the other authors are no 
more liberal. Poor Massachusetts is allowed room in propor- 
tion to her size ; and yet these books furnish all the knowledge 
that our children are required to learn of their respective 
states. 

If you wished to learn the geography of a town instead of a 
world, how would you proceed ? Would you go to one 
farmer and ascertain whether he raised wheat or oats ? to 
another to know how many men he employed ? how many 
pigs he raised, or how his potatoes yielded ? Would you 
visit the schools to see how many children attended ? how 
many pupils there were of each sex, and how many teachers ? 
what school books were used and what abused ? and whether 
they were purchased because they were cheap, or because they 
were good? Would you visit the several clergymen and 
ascertain how many sects there were, and how many of each 
sect ? which expended the most money, and which had the 
most virtue to show for it ? No, indeed ; you would know 
that these things have nothing to do with geography. You 
would walk round the boundaries of the town, and see how 
other towns bordered upon it. You would travel every road 
and learn where it led to ; you would visit every pond and 
every hill, and sail down every stream ; you would learn the 
locality of every church, of every school-house, and every 
other public building ; you would learn the limits of every 
school district ; the remarkable caves or rocks ; the quarries, 
and every thing that could be considered permanent ; you 
would draw a plan of the town, till you were familiar with 
every part of it. 

Then, if you wished to learn the history of the town, you 
would have some lines to go by, some points to measure from. 
You could lay out the farms of the first settlers, and cut them 
up as their descendants did ; you could plan new roads and 
future improvements, and your accurate knowledge of the 
unchangeable features of the town would never cease to be of 
service. Statistical tables are valuable to the political econo- 
mist, to the historian and antiquarian, and such may prepare 
and preserve them for reference ; but what would they think 
if asked to learn such tables by heart ? We cannot travel 



130 THE teachers' INSTITUTE. 

over the world as we may over a town, but we may travel 
over maps till the face of the globe is familiar, the great 
natural features, those characters which the Creator has 
engraved on the everlasting rocks, and not what transient 
man has scratched upon the shifting sand. 

The celebrated Rousseau ridicules the custom of teaching 
history to children, and he relates an amusing anecdote, which 
shows that history was taught in his day very much as it has 
been since. He was spending a few days in the country, and 
a fond mother invited him to be present at a lesson in ancient 
history about to be given to her son. The lesson related to 
that event of Alexander's life, when, being dangerously sick, 
he received a letter informing him that his physician intended 
to poison him, under pretence of giving him medicine. Alex- 
ander handed the letter to the physician, and while he was 
reading it, drank off the medicine at one draught. At dinner, 
the conversation turned upon the lesson, and the young his- 
torian expressed so much admiration at the courage of Alex- 
ander, that Rousseau took him aside and asked him in what 
the wonderful courage consisted. Why, said he, in swallow- 
ing such a nasty dose of physic at one draught. His kind 
mother had dosed him almost to death, and he hated all medi- 
cine like poison. Still, the history was not lost upon the 
child, though it was misunderstood, for he determined that the 
next medicine he had to take, he would imitate Alexander. 
" If it be asked," adds Rousseau, " what I see to admire in 
that act of Alexander, I answer, that I see in it the proof that 
the hero believed in the existence of human virtue, and that 
he was willing to stake his life upon his belief. The swal- 
lowing of the mxcdicine was a profession of his faith, and no 
mortal ever made one more sublime." 

History, as taught in schools, should be a practical applica- 
tion of geography. My method of teaching it, was to read 
the history to the class, explaining every word, and illus- 
trating every sentiment, as far as possible, by maps, books, 
engravings, medals, relics, and conversation. Then I required 
the pupils to read the lesson for themselves, and be prepared 
to answer such questions as I might propose. I never taught 
ancient geography except in connection with history, and 
never without a constant comparison of ancient geography 
With modern. In this way there is hardly any branch of 
human knowledge that was not brought to the aid of history, 
and in return illustrated by it. But, set a child to learning 



MEMORY. 131 

the compend by heart, or only so much as will serve for an 
answer to certam set questions, printed and adapted to the 
very w"ords of the answer, and what does the child acquire 
but a distaste for what is only a dead letter, and a love for 
tales and romances, and that trashy reading which is too well 
understood, and whose spirit, as well as letter, killeth too often 
both body and soul ? 

But, it may be asked, would you not cultivate the memory 
of words at all. I answer that the ordinary intercourse of 
society will do much towards educating this memory, but 
there is one school exercise, which, when not perverted, is 
peculiarly fitted for this purpose ; I mean spelling, although 
spelling, if properly taught, is not merely the learning of 
words, but the expression of sounds, and the acquisition of a 
correct pronunciation, which is rarely acquired in any other 
way. Perhaps no one branch taught in our common schools 
has been so badly taught as this, and in no department is 
there such a general complaint of deficiency, and such a loud 
cry for reform. Whence is this ? Certainly not because cor- 
rect spelling is not universally considered indispensable to a 
good education, certainly not because there is any dearth of 
spelling books. Will you bear with me a few minutes longer, 
while I endeavor to explain the cause of the deficiency which 
is so notorious ? 

First, then, spelling has been treated as an inferior branch, 
in which to exercise a pupil was to degrade him. Hence the 
higher classes have generally been excused from spelling, or 
have only spelled occasionally, without having regular and set 
lessons. Now, spelling must be taught at school, or the 
chance is a thousand to one that the adult will never make up 
for the neglect. The reason of this is, not so much the 
incapability of adults to learn, as their unwillingness to come 
down to the only effectual way of learning, that is, by lessons 
from the spelling book. It must be this, for adults read the 
words constantly, write them frequently, and understand and 
use them better than children do ; and yet they seldom cor- 
rect words that they have been accustomed to misspell. The 
reason uniformly given by adults, who continue to spell ill, is, 
they were not properly drilled Avhen young. 

The second reason why spelling has retrograded in our 
schools, has been the pretended improvement of spelling 
books. Thirty or forty years ago, little or no regard was 
paid to pronunciation ; and any person who cheu-ed his words 



132 THE teachers' institute. 

was laughed at as a flat, or sneered at as a pedant. About that 
time Walker's Dictionary was reprinted in this country, and 
spelling books began to be made on his plan. The test of 
gentility, thenceforth, was pronunciation, and not orthography. 
Figures and other marks were introduced into spelling books, 
and relying upon these, the classification of words began to 
be neglected, until it was almost disregarded, and the diffi- 
culty of learning to spell was increased just in proportion to 
this neglect. Who needs an argument to show that a proper 
classification facilitates the learning of every art and science, 
and that on the association thus produced, the memory in a 
great degree depends for its power ? The great desideratum 
of a spelling book is that it shall be choice, but sufficiently 
comprehensive in its vocabulary, simple, but exact and 
thorough in its classification ; and that it shall teach the true 
pronunciation without appearing to do so, and withoitt drav> 
ing off the pupiVs attention from the mdked word. 

The third reason for the decline of spelling was the intro- 
duction of definition spelling books, and the custom of giving 
spelling lessons from dictionaries. If attention to the marks 
and figures that indicated the pronunciation, took off the 
scholar's attention from the orthography, much more so did 
the affixing of a definition. The definition became every 
thing, and the orthography only a secondary object. The 
vocabulary of a definition spelling book was so curtailed from 
necessity, that it was altogether insufficient for the purpose of 
teaching orthography, and the words of a dictionary are so 
numerous that it is the labor of a life, a school life, to spell 
it through once. You see the consequence ; in the definition 
spelling books, many common and useful words were omitted, 
and the attention was distracted between those that were left 
and their definitions; while the length of time required to go 
through a dictionary, rendered a familiar acquaintance with 
the definition or the orthography absolutely impossible. And 
had the definition been retained, what would it have been 
worth ? Common words are generally mystified by a defi- 
nition, and seldom explained. The other day, in preparing a 
new work to oblige children to vrrite the words of their spell- 
ing books, I wanted a simple definition oiv^-Jhunce and of a 
periwig, both common things, and well understood. I turned 
to the most popular, and really the best school dictionary, and 
found the definition as follows : 

Periwig. Adscilitious hair. 



MEMORY. 133 

Flounce. A loose, full trimming, sewed to a woman's 
garment so as to swell and shake. 

1 then asked an intelligent child what sort of hair he thought 
" adscititious hair" was. — " I don't know," said he. " Is it 
hair that is all in a snarl?" — I then asked an intelligent girl 
what she should call "a loose, full trimming sewed to a 
woman's garment so as to swell and shake," and she said at 
once, " an April fool." 

So much for the definition of easy words. I then had occa- 
sion to look out the word Imbricated, and found that it meant 
" Indented with concavities." I asked a miss who was read- 
ing, the meaning of the word anodyne, and she looked in the 
dictionary, and mistaking the a which denoted that the word 
was an adjective, for a part of the definition, she said anodyne 
meant, " a mitigating pain." 

If the memory is treacherous, the definition will soon 
escape, almost as soon as it is learned, or it may be applied to 
the wrong word. When a class of young misses was once 
reading to me, the word wedlock occurred, and, as usual, I 
asked the meaning of it. " I know," said a lively little girl, 
who had " studied dictionary," as she called it, at another 
school; " it is something they fasten barn-doors with.'"^ 

I believe this is a fair specimen of the aid that children get 
from definitions obtained in dictionaries ; for, as I have said, 
if the words are common, no definition is needed, and a large 
proportion are of this description ; and if the words are not 
common, the definition will not be understood, or will be 
immediately forgotten. 

The fourth cause of the decline of spelling, is the attempt 
to teach spelling from reading lessons. I have already hinted 
that the true place to teach a child the meaning of a word is 
not in the dictionary, where it may have a dozen meanings 
apparently contradictory or perfectly unintelligible, but in the 
reading lesson, where the word is used, and where its very 
use often defines it. The faithful teacher will never miss 
this opportunity to explain words, not only because the 
interest and the intelligent reading of the particular lesson 
depend upon it, but because he will never, in any other 
department of instruction, have so good a chance to teach the 
correct meaning and use of words. But this is a very 

* As I have seen this anecdote elsewhere, and may be suspected of appro- 
priating what is not my own, it may be proper for me to say that it was first 
published in one of my Reports, many years ago. 

12 



134 THE teachers' institute. 

different exercise from spelling; and just so far as it is 
excellent for teaching the meaning and use of words, it is 
unfitted to teach spelling ; for, if it be true that the affixing of 
a definition diverts the attention from the orthography, it is 
evident that the sentiment, and the interest of the narrative, 
will do so in a greater degree. Every scholar knows the 
extreme difficulty of printing correctly ; but this does not arise 
from the ignorance of the author or the printer, but from the 
constant tendency of the sentiment or thought to divert the 
attention of the proof-reader, whether author or printer, from 
the structure of the words themselves ; and hence their custom 
of spelling the words instead of pronouncing them, or the 
reading of sentences backwards, to destroy the sense and fix 
the attention upon the naked words. 

But spelling from reading books is attended with another 
serious disadvantage. The number of words spelled will not 
be extensive, and many words in common use will, perhaps, 
never occur at all. Besides, those that do occur, occur in 
utter confusion ; and, for this reason, neither teacher nor pupil 
can ever know how many words he has learned, nor of how 
many he is ignorant. The presumption is, that the words of 
a spelling book include all that will occur in useful, but not 
strictly scientific books, and in profitable conversation; and 
these will be spelled and written over and over, until they 
become familiar ; and when teachers will go back to this old 
plan of using the spelling book, and not till then, will they be 
able, in my opinion, to remedy the defect which all acknowl- 
edge to exist. It will not do to say that spelling is not worth 
the trouble of acquisition, for I think no one will deny that 
spelling is like charity in one remarkable respect ; for a man 
may understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and yet, 
without correct spelling, — be nothing. 

If I did not believe that the prevalent mode of committing 
books to memory was cruel as well as incorrect, I should not 
be so anxious for the reform. The custom has been, and nov 
is, for the teacher to set a lesson to be learned at home, and 
it not unfrequently happens that the parents have the hardest 
part of the work to do, for they have to direct the child, to 
encourage him in the disagreeable task, and then nurse him 
in the sickness that follows constant study when he should be 
taking exercise. I wonder that parents have not come to the 
conclusion that they may as well set the lesson as ieach it, and 
80 have the credit of it. Who does not know that nineteen- 



MEMORY. 135 

twentieths at least of every lesson committed to memory, are 
immediately forgotten ? I should as soon think of employing 
a ehii d to bring me water in a basket, as to learn lessons by 
rote. What would you think of a farmer, who, instead of 
taking his boy into the field, should send him to a school, 
where he would be required to commit an agricultural cate- 
chism to memory.? 

It would not require much shrewdness in the farmer to 
guess what would be the result of this sort of education. He 
would instantly reject it, and the next morning, perhaps, send 
his child to school to be taught geography, or natural philos- 
ophy, in the same irrational manner ! 

Some years ago, I wTote a dialogue^ for the amusement 
of my pupils, and as it not only exhibits the folly now under 
consideration, but also the kindred folly of crowding a little of 
every thing into the young mind, with your permission, I will 
read a page of it. 

A mother in search of a school for her child, accosted a 
young teacher as follow^s : 

Mother. Are you the mistress of this school, miss ? 

Teacher. I am, madam. 

M. Your school has been highly recommended to me, and 
I have concluded to place my only daughter under your care, 
if w^e can agree upon the subject of her studies. Pray what 
do you teach ? 

T. What is usually taught in preparatory schools, madam. 
How old is your little girl? 

M. She is only five, but then she is a child of remar-kable 
capacity. 

T. I should not think she studied many branches at present, 
madam, whatever she may do hereafter. 

M. Indeed, she is not so backward as you imagine. She 
has studied astronomy, botany and geometry, and her teacher 
w^as preparing to put her into Latin, when ill health obliged 
her to relinquish her school. 

T. Have you ever examined her in these sciences, madam ? 

M. O yes, indeed. Fraxinella, my dear, tell the lady 
something of geometry and astronomy. What is astronomy, 
my dear? Ask her a question, miss, any question you 
please. 

T. What planet do we. inhabit, my dear ? 

* Since puLlishetl in the " Fuiuiliur Diuloi^'ucs " ol'lho author. 



136 



THE TEACHERS INSTITUTE. 



C. Hey? 

T. What do you live on, my dear ? 

C. On meat, ma'am ; I did not know what you meant 
before. 

M. No, my dear, the lady wishes to know what you stand 
on now ; on what do you stand ? 

C. On my feet, mother ; did she think I stood on my head ? 

M. Fraxinella ! dear, you have forgotten your astronomy 
the three days you have staid at home. But do now say 
a line or two of your last lesson to the lady ; now do, dear, 
that's a darling. 

C. The equinoctial line is the plane of the equator extended 
in a straight line until it surrounds the calyx or flower-cup, 
for the two sides of an isuckle triangle are always equal to the 
hippopotamus. 

M. There, miss; I told you she had it in her, only it 
requires a peculiar tact to draw it out. I knew she would 
astonish you. 

T. She does, indeed, madam. You speak of the ^toe of 
the equator, my dear ; will you be good enough to tell me the 
meaning of the word plane ? 

C. Ugly, ma'am ; I thought every body knew that. 

T. How many are three times three, my dear ? 

C. Three times three ? 

T. Yes, how many are they ? 

C. I don't know. Mrs. Flare never told me that; she said 
every body knows how to count ! 

T. She taught you to read and spell, I suppose. 

M. No, I positively forbade that. I wished to have her 
mind properly developed, without having her intellect frittered 
away upon the elements. But I see your school will not do 
for my daughter. I was afraid you only taught the lower 
branches. Come, Fraxy, dear, let us call on Miss Flourish ; 
perhaps she is competent to estimate your acquirements, and 
finish your education. 

I have thus, in a very familiar way, endeavored to expose 
the too prevalent error of attempting to cram all sorts of 
knowledge into the mind through the single avenue of the 
verbal memory, to the neglect of all other kinds of memory, 
of the external senses, and of the reasoning powers. The first 
great principle which should guide us in the education of 
children is, to teach only what is necessary and proper, and 



MEMORY. 137 

lohat the child is competent to understand^ and the next is, to 
illicstrate, explain^ and demonstrate it, as far as possible, to 
the understanding and the senses. 

I have given you the result of twenty years' observation 
and experience ; and v^^hether I am in error, or whether the 
common theory of memory and the common system of instruc- 
tion are in fault, you, gentlemen, must judge. 
12=^ 



138 



ENGLISH GRAMMAE. 

If any one branch taught in our common schools is very 
badly taught, that branch is English grammar. Whatever 
may be the textbook used, the object undoubtedly ought to be, 
to teach the child to speak and write correctly and with ease ; 
and, if the teacher is competent, this object may be attained 
with any of the popular textbooks, or even without any of 
them. 

Unfortunately, however, the number of district school 
teachers who are skilful in the use of language is very 
small, although many are acquainted with the technics of 
grammar, and can analyze sentences made by others with 
tolerable facility. To such, and to all teachers, let me say, 
that their time will be better spent if they begin earher to 
teach the use of language, leaving the grammar to come in, 
as it originally came, after the language has been formed. 

To enable the teacher to do this, he must begin early with 
the child, and make every exercise bear upon this. In my 
remarks on reading and orthography, I have shown how a 
beginning may be made, and I shall endeavor not to repeat 
what I have said. 

I should begin to teach English grammar, then, when I 
begin to teach the English language ; that is, when I begin to 
teach reading, spelling and talking. The mischief has been, 
that children have been allowed to read without intelligence, 
to spell without any application of the words, and to talk 
without care, although they talk before they read, or spell, or 
write ; and being allowed to talk badly, the chief object of 
.eaching technical grammar afterwards is, to undo what has 
been previously done, but what should have been avoided. If 
parents only felt the importance of speaking correctly, and 
even elegantly, in the presence of their children ; if they paid 
a hundredth part as much attention to language as they do to 
dress and external appearance, we should hear little of gram- 
mar, except as it affords directions for foreigners who wish to 
learn our idioms, and have not time to do so by practice in 
writing and speaking it. 



ENGLISH GRAMMAR. 139 

Unfortunately, not one child in a hundred is so situated 
that he is not exposed to evil influences in this respect ; and 
the time is far distant, I fear, when, in the family and in 
society, the use of language will be so free from error that the 
young will insensibly learn to speak correctly, and be so 
familiar with good usage that they wdll not need to resort to 
grammars to know in what it^ consists. Several years ago, a 
young Frenchman, who had been educated in Paris at great 
expense, undertook to teach French in Boston. He was an 
excellent scholar, and yet one day he pointed to a countr}''- 
man of his who passed us in the street, and remarked, " That 
man is an upholsterer, and has taken no pains to perfect his 
pronunciation, but I would give all I am worth to be able to 
pronounce French as correctly as he does." " How did he 
arrive at such perfection ? " said I. " He was born at Tours," 
said he, " where French is more correctly spoken than in any 
other part of France, and he speaks well from habit. I shall 
never equal him." The teacher cannot, perhaps, counteract 
entirely the evil influences of home, and of intercourse with 
the illiterate and unrefined, but he may do much by the force 
of his own example, and by untiring vigilance in regard to the 
faults of his pupils. 

Before children are readers or writers, they are often great 
talkers ; but how rarely do we hear of a teacher's engaging in 
conversation with such pupils, or indeed with his most 
advanced pupils ; and yet, what exercise could be more 
proper or more useful than for the teacher to call his little 
class around him, and converse freely and affectionately with 
them upon the thousand subjects that interest their opening 
minds? Besides the exercise in grammar which such a con- 
versation would afford, how completely might the teacher win 
the affections of the children, and lay the basis of mild and yet 
effective discipline ; and how easily could he impress upon 
the yet unsullied heart the great principles of conscience, 
morality and religion. Were I again to undertake to teach, 
this exercise would be one of the first that I should introduce 
into every class ; but, when I was a teacher, I was blind as 
my fellows in this respect, except that I was accustomed to 
converse with my oldest pupils on the subject of their next 
composition. 

It is to be regretted that so few teachers are fitted to con- 
verse with their pupils in this manner, but this should not 
prevent them from making the attempt ; and I err greatly in 



140 THE teachers' INSTITUTE. 

my judgment, if they do not soon find that in this exercise, 
as in philosophy, action and reaction will be, at the least, 
equal. 

If he cannot trust himself without a text, let him take some 
common thing, — a piece of money, for instance, — and ask the 
little ones its uses, and such other particulars as will lead 
them to tell what they know on the subject. He may even 
appoint the subject of conversation the day beforehand, and 
let them think upon it before they come to the class. I know 
that many teachers will say they have no time for such an 
exercise, and I suppose they have not ; but I think every one 
can make time for it, by thus employing some of the minutes 
that are worse than wasted in teaching useless things, or in 
teaching even useful things in a useless manner. 

I have already shown how early the child may be taught 
to write, and how usefully he may be employed in writing 
little sentences from his books, from dictation, or from copies 
set on the ruled black-board. Every sentence that the child 
writes in this way is a lesson in grammar, and in the use of 
language, which is, or ought to be, the only object in learning 
the grammar of one's own language. 

When I was at school, composition was not taught, and, 
although I received the Franklin medal for English grammar 
especially, I am not aware that I ever wrote a word of compo- 
sition until I left school, and I am sure that I never wrote one 
as a school exercise. I entered what is now called the Eliot 
school, in Boston, at the early age of six years, easily passing 
for a child of seven, because as large as my brother, who 
was eight. We read one verse, and spelled one or two 
words, every day. My class consisted of twelve forms or 
long benches, each holding six or eight boys. Each form, on 
successive days, said grammar, as it was called, and my turn 
came only once a fortnight, unless I got above others in spell- 
ing, which elevation, of course, brought the grammar lesson 
somewhat earlier than if I had remained stationary. Six 
lines of the grammar were the least quantity that was taken 
for a lesson, but we might say more if we pleased, and he 
who said most went to the head of the form. Such was the 
horror in which this exercise was held, that boys, whose turn 
it would be to say grammar the next day, would miss words 
in spelling, so as to drop into a lower form, and put off the 
evil day. Others, who had an opportunity to rise into the 



ENGLISH GRAMMAR. 141 

doomed form, intentionally spelled the words wrong, and staid 
down. 

The recitation was generally made to some boy of the 
highest class, and it was never accompanied wqth any expla- 
nation. When a boy had said every word of the grammar 
book through three times, he was promoted to the first class, 
which alone was allowed to make that wonderful application 
of grammar which is technically called parsing. The text- 
book I first learned was the Young Ladies' Accidence, by 
Caleb Bingham, with whom, after he became a bookseller, I 
had the pleasure of serving my apprenticeship, and whose 
partner I had the honor to be until his death. If this were 
the proper place, it would give me great delight to sketch the 
character of this excellent man, who was the earliest reformer 
of education in Boston, and perhaps in these United States. 
No reading books were so popular as his American Preceptor 
and Columbian Orator. No spelling book was more used 
than his Child's Companion in our primary schools, which, at 
that time, were private or select schools for children under 
seven, and kept by females ; and his little grammar, called 
" The Young Ladies' Accidence," because, when he made 
and named it, the author was teacher of a select school for 
girls, was the first grammatical textbook used in the public 
schools of Boston. I must be contented, however, with barely 
saying that Caleb Bingham was a good scholar ; a very suc- 
cessful and much beloved teacher ; a gentleman in the best 
sense of the word ; an humble, devout, consistent, and chari- 
table Christian, — one of those whose purity of heart enables 
them, even here on earth, to see God. 

Before I had learned the Young Ladies' Accidence once 
through, it was superseded by a little abridgment of Murray's 
Grammar by " A Teacher of Youth ;" and this I recited twice 
by rote, — a few lines at a lesson, before I was initiated into the 
mysteries of parsing. How far this change of books went 
towards finishing my English education may be inferred from 
the fact, that, when, at the age of thirteen, I went to the pub- 
lic Latin school, and the teacher, by way of examination, 
asked me what was the perfect participle of the verb love, I 
could not answer him. It is not to be wondered at, therefore, 
that I hated grammar, had no faith in the utility of teaching 
it as it was then taught, and determined to reform the 
method, if I ever had a good opportunity. 

But the teacher must use some textbook, and the question 



142 THE teachers' institute. 

is, how shall he use it ? To answer this question fully, it 
would be necessary to give particular directions for the use of 
every one of the hundred or more textbooks that have been 
prepared to explain*, or modify, or simplify, the system pro- 
posed nearly half a century ago by Lindley Murray. I can 
not be expected to do this, and must be contented with one 
general remark, viz., Whatever be the textbook, as soon as 
a principle is stated, do not advance one step further until it is 
understood, and applied to actual practice. How this may be 
done, I have attempted to show in my Common School 
Grammar, to which I must refer the young teacher, since to 
explain any textbook would be to write a grammar as large 
as that to which I refer. 

But the most popular grammars used in the United States 
abound in difficulties, and, by perplexing the teachers and dis- 
gusting the pupils, they fail to aid either in the great work of 
using their mother tongue with facility and effect. Some- 
thing is fundamentally wrong. All teachers and all pupils 
feel this, and yet no reform that has been proposed reaches 
the difficulty, or, in any considerable degree, obviates it. 
Will the reader bear with me while, at some length, I point 
out what I consider to be the evil, and endeavor to propose an 
adequate remedy for it. 

The first school that I undertook to teach was to be con- 
ducted on the monitorial plan, and the monitors, as usual, 
formed the highest class, and were under my special instruc- 
tion. The first time that I endeavored to give them a lesson 
in English grammar, I found that they all applied to the 
dictionary to ascertain to what part of speech a word belonged. 
As the same word, in different circumstances, might belong to 
different classes of words, and the pupils seemed never to 
have exercised their ingenuity in attempting to class words by 
the use that was made of them in the sentence, I directed all 
dictionaries to be banished, and the definitions of the various 
parts of speech to be thoroughly learned before the next 
lesson. When the time arrived, I selected a sentence from 
the reading book, and I shall never forget it. It was, " David 
omote Goliah." " Well," said I to the first pupil, " what part 
of speech is David ?" " A noun, sir." " What is a noun ?" 
" A substantive or noun is the name of any thing that exists, or 
of which we have any notion." "Is David, in this sentence, 
the name of any thing that exists ? " " No, sir ; David died 
long ago." " Is it the name of any thing of which you have 



ENGLISH GRAMMAR. 



143 



any notion?" " Yes, sir; I have some notion of him as a 
very small man, and a king." As the object was only to 
ascertain the part of speech, I asked the next pupil what part 
of speech smote was. "A preposition, sir." "A preposi- 
tion ! " said I, with astonishment, " pray what is a preposition ? " 
" Prepositions serve to connect words with one another and 
to show the relation between them." " Very well," said I, 
with all the importance of a teacher who felt it his duty to 
expose the ignorance of his pupil, "what words does smote 
connect?" " David and Goliah, sir, for there is nothing else 
to connect them." "Yes," said I, somewhat flurried, "hut 
what relation does it show between them?" "Not a very 
friendly one, I should think, sir," said the pupil. I was struck 
with the truth of the answers, and had the honesty to say, 
" You are right, miss, or the definition in your book is 
wrong." 

This incident shook my faith in the perfection of Murray's 
Grammar; and the long course of study which followed, 
resulted in the settled conviction that Murraifs Grammar is far 
from being synonymous with English grammar, and that any 
lime spent in teaching it is worse than thrown away. This 
may seem a bold assertion, when it is recollected that, perhaps, 
hundreds of persons have published grammars founded upon 
Murray's, and the schools of our country, from one end to the 
other, for nearly half a century, have known no other, and 
half the teachers, and nearly all the parents, seem to have 
adopted the notion, that to throw aside this very popular 
grammar would be to throw aside th'e English language itself. 

Twenty-five years ago, when I first struck for reform, the 
charge of wishing to corrupt, or, at least, to alter the language, 
was urged against me with no little violence, although I never 
proposed any such alteration, and was mainly anxious to 
preserve the " well of English undefiled." I have had the 
pleasure of seeing several of the improvements I then recom- 
mended very generally adopted, but much rubbish yet remains 
to be removed ; and as, in teaching this branch, I diflfer from 
my brother teachers still more in regard to the matter to be 
taught than in regard to the manner of teaching it, I will 
venture to give the reasons for my conduct somewhat at 
length. 

The human mind being essentially the same in every man, 
it would be strange, if, in some important respects, there was 
not a dca^ree of similarity in the languages which their 



144 THE teachers' institute. 

common wants have created. All lan^ages, for instance, 
would be likely to have words that were the names of objects 
that could be the subject of sense or of thought. They would 
have words also to distinguish several individuals of the same 
name from each other, and they would have another class of 
words to express the actions that any object may perform. 
Beauzee* expresses the same idea when he says, "Reason 
produces every where the same results ; it establishes every 
where the same sorts of words to represent, under similar 
circumstances, the same kind of ideas ; it subjects words to 
the same kinds of service, and it fixes the relations between 
them as the ideas are related of which they are the signs." 
A grammar whose object is merely to show in what respects 
all languages agree, is called a general grammar i but lan- 
guages do not agree in every respect, and a general grammar 
would never enable us to learn those peculiarities which are 
confined to a single language. How shall we learn them, then ? 
Is it not by studying such grammars as set forth these peculi- 
arities in the clearest light, unmixed with the peculiarities of 
any other language? Now, if it can be shown that the 
grammars in common use, called English grammars, do not 
exhibit the peculiarities of our language, but, on the contrary, 
so mix up its peculiarities with those of other languages that 
no distinct idea of English grammar is contained in them, 
ought we not instantly to discard them all, and to endeavor to 
find some one that shall be fitted to do the work that they 
can never accomplish ? 

To understand this remark, let me give an example, taken 
from the Latin language. We there find that the verb, or 
word that expresses action, changes its termination more than 
a hundred times, and, without the addition of any other word, 
changes its meaning as many times. Thus, — 

Amo means I love. 

Amabam " I was loving. 

Amavi " I have loved. 

Amaveram " I had loved. 
Amabo " I shall or will love. 

Amavero " I shall or will have loved. 



Amem " I may or can love. 

Amarem " I might, could, would, or should love. 

* Beauzie, author of "Grammaire Generale.ou Expositipn Raisonn^e de? 
Elements neeessaires du I,aiii;!iye," etc, 



ENGLISH GRAMMAR. 145 

Amaverim means I may have loved. 

Amavissem " I might, could, would, or shoulJPhave loved. 

Ama " Love thou. 



Amare " To love. 

Amavisse " To have loved. 



Amor " I am loved. 

Amabar " I v^as loved. 

Amabor " I shall be loved. 



Amer " I may or can be loved. 

Amarer " I might, could, would, or should be loved. 



Amator " Be thou loved. 



Amari " To be loved. 

Here are twenty forms of a Latin verb, each having a 
different termination, and each a difference of meaning, as I 
have shown by the English translation that I have placed 
opposite to them. Now these changes of termination are 
called tenses in Latin grammars, and, with one or two excep- 
tions, each of these has five other variations to express the 
other persons in the two numbers. Thus, 

Amo, I love ; Amas, thou lovest ; Amat^ he loves ; 

Amamits, we love ; Amatis, ye love ; Amant, they love. 

The Latin verbs, therefore, have really more than a hundred 
such changes of termination. 

Now, how is it in our language ? How many terminations 
have we ; or, if these changes of termination are called tenses, 
how many tenses have we ? Let us see. We have — 

Love, lovest, loveth, loves. 



Loved, lovedst. 

Six in all ! and, surely, there must be an amazing difference 
between the particular grammar of the Latin language and 
that of English, and this point of difference, of course, it would 
seem to be the duty of the makers of English grammar-books 
distinctly to set forth. They have done no such thing ; but, on 
the contrary, they have said that v/e have as many tenses as 
J3 



146 THE teachers' institute. 

the Latins have ; and English children, who could learn our 
six terminations, which make but two tenses, in five minutes, 
are compelled often to waste years in learning the translations 
of the hundred Latin tenses, although not one in a thousand 
will ever see the Latin words. 

This multiplicity of terminations has been called an advan- 
tage, and is said to add richness to the Latin tongue ; but it 
seems to me, that, if it is an advantage to have an alphabet of 
a few letters, by the transposition of which we can express all, 
and more than all that can be expressed by the countless hiero- 
glyphics which the alphabet superseded, the English language 
has an advantage over the Latin in being able with six words 
to express all that can be expressed by their hundred, and this 
without any loss of strength, or any fear of mistake. 

This will suffice for an example, and the question naturally 
arises, " How came English grammar to be so strangely 
perverted?" Fortunately, this question can be satisfactorily 
answered. But, if it be asked why disturb the course of 
instruction by introducing a new system into the schools? I 
answer that this question should have been put to Lindley 
Murray when he proposed his grammar ; for the grammars 
before his day hardly departed at all from the true idiom and 
structure of our language. The teacher who has not access 
to any good library, and who takes, — as, I trust, every Massa- 
chusetts teacher, who deserves the name, does, — the Common 
School Journal, will find in the third volume a brief analysis 
of some of the early grammars of our language, an analysis 
which was made, I believe, by a gentleman, who, if I can 
judge from his initials, W. H. W., saw in those grammars 
what the true principles of English grammar were, and seems 
to have approved them, and, nevertheless, went away and con- 
structed a grammar of his own, which, if possible, departs 
further than Murray's does from the simplicity of truth, and 
does not appear to be in the least improved by the critic's re- 
searches. The analysis, however, as far as it goes, is fairly 
made, and the following is the result. 

Lilly's Grammar. This was a Latin grammar, though, in 
a second part, it touched upon English ; " but," says W. H. 
W., " both parts are devoted to the grammar of the Latin 
tongue." The fact is, nobody studied English grammar 
when this was published, in 1513. 

Ben Jonson's Grammar, 1640. W. H. \V. says of tliis 
grammar, " The author attempted to force the English Ian- 



ENGLISH GRAMMAR. 147 

guage to the Latin idiom." This grammar was written in 
English. 

Dr. Wallis, 1653. " This learned man endeavored," says 
W. H. W., " to free the language from the trammels imposed 
on it by other writers, but he sometimes fell into the opposite 
extreme.''^ Dr. W. classed adjectives, pronouns, possessive 
cases and participles, with mere adjectives, and allowed no 
moods, and only two tenses, to verbs. As his grammar was 
in fact the basis of my Common School Grammar, I shall say 
more of it than the critic did, and shall hereafter endeavor to 
show that Dr. Wallis fell into no extreme, as the critic errone- 
ously supposes. 

John Brightland, 1710. The critic says, "iJe thoroughly, 
investigated every department of the subject, and his work 
presents a striking contrast loilh many of our modern hasty and 
superficial productions.^^ He makes but four parts of speech, 
— nouns, adjectives, verbs and particles. Pronouns he calls 
nouns ; the article and the possessive case he calls adjectives. 
He has no moods, and only two tenses. Participles he calls 
adjectives. The auxiliaries he calls principal verbs, and the 
verbs after them infinitives with to understood, as did Wallis 
and Ben Jonson. Under the name of particles he includes 
adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions and interjections."^ 

Gough, James and John, 1750. The critic says, " This is 
a production of little merit ;" but he gives no particulars in 
regard to the parts of speech. 

James Harris, 1751. The Hermes of Harris is a gcTieral 
grammar, and should not have been mentioned by the critic 
among English grammars. 

A. Fisher, 1753. Four parts of speech, the same as Bright- 
land's. He has no' moods, and but three tenses. He allows 
but two cases, having no objective. 

The British Gra7n7nar, 1762. This anonymous grammar 
has eight parts of speech, and calls the article and adjective 
subdivisions of the noun. It has but two cases, four moods 
and five tenses. It allov/s no potential mood, and no second 
future tense, but, in other respects, is like Murray's Grammar, 
of which it was probably the basis. 

It is not known who was the author of this grammar, but 
he is entitled to the infamy of having led the way to a fatal 

* These were the conclusions of a man who, it seems, had " thoroughly 
investigated every department of the subject of grammar! " 



148 THE teachers' institute. 

relapse into the wretched system, from which Wallis had so 
patriotically redeemed our language. 

Br. Priestley, 1762. This very learned author had no 
moods, and but two tenses. " He also asserts," says the critic, 
" that we have no more business with a future tense than we 
have with the whole system of Latin moods and tenses." 

Dr. Lowih, 1763. Dr. Webster says that Wallis and 
Lowth are the two ablest writers on English grammar. Dr. 
L. allows but two cases ; has four moods, omitting the poten- 
tial of Murray ; and three tenses, adding the future to the 
present and past of his predecessors. 

Dr. Johnson, about 1763. This grammar was prefixed to 
the great dictionary. The critic says it cannot be regarded 
as a complete system of English grammar. It contains one 
bright remark, however, which the critic seems to cite with 
disapprobation. Dr. J. says, " Our language has so little 
inflection or variety of terminations that its construction neither 
requires nor admits many rules." He also objects to the use 
of new terms or names in grammar. 

Dr. Ash, about 1763. This grammar is mentioned, but 
nothing is said by the critic to enable the reader to form an 
idea of its plan, except that the author called it an Introduction 
to Lowth's Grammar. Dr. Ash rejected the passive voice, and 
called participles adjectives. 

William Ward, 1765. Of Ward the critic says, " He was 
strongly inclined to the old system of instruction, and used his 
influence to revive many useless terms, which had been 
rejected by Wallis and Lowth." Has not the critic done the 
same thing in his own grammar, published in 1846 ? 

John Burn, 1766. The critic gives no idea of his system, 
and might as well not have named him. 

James Buchanan, 1767. " Stolen chiefly from the British 
Grammar," says the critic. 

The ill health of W. H. W. prevented him from con- 
tinuing the list any further, but he brought it far enough to 
show that, originally, English grammar was made entirely 
subservient to the Latin ; then, some noble minds, led on by 
Dr. Wallis, broke the shackles, and made a proper English 
grammar; and, finally, men of less genius and learning began 
the retrogression, which ended in the production of Murray's 
Grammar, et id genus omne. 

I promised to say something more of Dr. Wallis's Gram- 
mar, but let me first say a word or two of the man. 



ENGLISH GRAMMAR. 149 

Dr. John Wallis was a distinguished professor of geome- 
try in Oxford University, one of the founders of the Royal 
Society, and one of the secretaries of the famous Westminster 
Assembly of Divines in 1644. Before he was honored with 
the professorship, he was a clergyman, and, probably, a 
teacher, for he taught several deaf mutes to speak, and wrote 
a valuable treatise on the best method of instructing them. It 
is to be regretted that no one seems to have thought of simpli- 
fying the labor of teaching these unfortunates by adopting the 
English Grammar of this true philosopher, who to this, no 
doubt, owed much of his success in teaching them to articulate 
words. Dr. Wallis made some valuable discoveries in natural 
philosophy, and his mathematical works led to many im- 
portant improvements. As a linguist he was distinguished, 
and edited two or three ancient authors. He was therefore a 
competent judge of general and particular grammar, more so 
than any that preceded or followed him, with the exception, 
perhaps, of Dr. Priestley, who agreed with him, and Dr. 
Lowth, who wrote his Grammar, as he avows, for the special 
purpose of helping some of his family to study Latin and 
Greek. 

In the preface to his Grammar, nearly two hundred years 
ago. Dr. Wallis says : — 

" Many foreigners who wish to learn our language, com- 
plain of its difficulty ; and even some of our own countrymen 
think it can not be subjected to any grammatical rules. These 
evils I have undertaken to remedy, in order that a language, 
in itself very easy of acquisition, may be so explained that 
foreigners may more easily learn it, and natives more 
thoroughly understand its true structure. I am aware that 
others before me have attempted this, amongst whom are Dr. 
Gill in Latin, Ben Johnson in English, and Henry Hexham 
in Belgic ; but no one of them, as I think, has adopted the 
method best adapted to this design, for, all of them, hy forcing 
our language to conform to the Latin model, have given many 
useless rules about the cases, genders, and declensioiu of nouns, 
the tenses, modes, and conjugations of verbs, and other similar 
things, which ate entirely foreign to our language, and 
obscure and confuse, rather than explain it. On this account, 
I have adopted a different method, which aims not so much 
to exhibit the usages of the Latin tongue, as the peculiarities 
of our own ; for, what causes much trouble in other languages, 
13^ 



]50 THE teachers' INSTITUTE. 

is made a light affair in ours, by the aid of prepositions and 
auxiliaries." 

How, then, does Dr. Wailis construct his True English 
Grammar ? I will show, in as few words as possible. 

1. He has eight parts of speech, — the noun, adjective, pro- 
noun, verb, adverb, preposition, conjunction, and interjection. 

2. The articles he calls adjectives. 

3. He has no cases to nouns ; for the possessive case, he 
says, is a mere adjective, and not, like nouns, the name of 
any thing. 

4. All adjective pronouns, and possessive cases of personal 
pronouns, he calls adjectives. 

5. Personal pronouns, he says, ought to be called nouns. 
He keeps them in a separate class, however, probably because 
they seem to have two cases, which he calls two states or 
conditions. 

6. He has no active and passive voice, no moods, and 
only two tenses, — the two that Murray calls the present and 
imperfect. 

7. Of the two participles, which he calls active and passive, 
he says, " They are clearly adjectives, and, in every respect, 
like other adjectives." 

8. What Murray' calls auxiliaries, he calls so, because, he 
says, they have no auxiliaries themselves, and no participles. 
As this is not true of be, have, do, and will, and, since Dr. W. 
treats them all as principal verbs, the utility of calling them 
auxiliaries is not A'-ery apparent. 

9. He treats the other four parts of speech very much as 
Murray does. 

This is a brief summary of the plan ; and who does not see 
that it is founded in nature and reason, and is more simple 
than the grammar that prevails? 

I am not aware that, in the Common School Grammar, I 
have departed in any important respect from the great 
principles laid down by Dr. Wailis ; but I know that these 
principles, simple as they are, will not be received without 
great reluctance, and I shall, at the risk of being tedious, say 
a few words upon each of the nine points above noticed. It 
would be a shorter way, perhaps, to refer the teacher at once 
to my Grammar; but as that is intended for children, I have 
not discussed any disputed question, because this could only 
perplex the learner, and the teacher should be convinced 
without obliging the child to pay for the argument. 



ENGLISH GRAMMAR. 151 

1. In regard to the parts of speech. As we have names 
of things that exist, and of those rJso " of which we have any 
notion," we must have names iox actions ; but we have no 
such names, unless the infinitive mode of Mr. Murray, and 
the present participle, when not used as an adjective, are 
called nouns. This may seem a startling position, but it does 
no violence even to the Grammar of Mr. Murray; for he 
always governs the infinitive as he would a noun, and makes 
a nominative of it in the same manner ; nay, he even allows 
an adjective to qualify it, as in the sentence, " To see the sun 
is pleasant." He does the same thing with the present par- 
ticiple, and why then should not these names of action at 
once be called nouns. If it be said, " the infinitive must be 
a verb, because the other modes and tenses are formed from 
it," the answer is, that, granting that they are so formed, the 
consequence does not follow. ^4 head is a noun, to head is an 
infinitive, I headed is an undoubted verb; now, if to head is 
a verb because I headed is formed from it, then a head 
is a verb because to head is formed from that. What is the 
difference between 7 Zoye reading., and I love to read ; writing 
is useful, and to ivrite is useful; and why should they be 
parsed differently ? It is, therefore, no departure from even 
Murray himself to call infinitives and present participles 
nouns ; but, if it were, I could bring authority for doing so, 
with which Mr. Murray and his followers may not be compared. 

I shall content myself with only one extract from Dr. 
Crombie's justly celebrated Grammar, cited with approbation 
by Bosworth, in his valuable Anglo-Saxon Grammar. Dr. 
Crombie says, " In what light are we to consider the phrase 
to love, generally termed an infinitive ; or to what class of 
words is it reducible ? It cannot be a verb, for it does not 
affirm any thing. It expresses merely an action or state 
abstractedly. Hence, many grammarians have justly con- 
sidered it no part of the verb ; and, in the languages of Greece 
and Rome, the infinitive was employed like a common sub- 
stantive, having frequently an adjective joined with it, and 
subject to the government of verbs and prepositions. I 
decidedly concur with those grammarians who exclude the 
infinitive from the appellation of verb. The ancient Latin 
grammarians, as Priscian informs us, termed it, properly 
enough, '■'■ nomen verbi, the nou7i, or 7iame of the verb" In 
the Common School Grammar, it is called a verbal noun. 

2. The Article, also, is struck from the list of parts of speech. 



152 THE teachers' institute. 

It may seem unnecessary to say a word in defence of this 
act, for some of the Latino-English grammarians, and W. H. 
W., of the Common School Journal, among them, yield this 
point ; and yet, not many days ago, a gentleman, of some rep- 
utation as a scholar and a teacher, undertook, at one of the 
Normal schools, to expose my folly in uttering such a notion, 
and, therefore, it may be well to waste a word upon his argu- 
ments, which have been reported me. 

" The articles have a peculiar meaning and use^ different 
from adjectives," says my reviewer. When I say. Give me 
aji orange, then, what do I mean^ but that I wish for one 
orange ? When I say, Give me one orange, what do I mean^ 
but that I wish for an orange ? So much for tha peculiar 
meaning ; and who can tell in what respect an is used differ- 
ently from one ? If it be still objected, that this similarity of 
meaning and use proves not that an is an adjective, for orve is 
an indefinite adjective pronoun, I may grant this, and be 
contented, for the present, to call a, an^ and the indefinite 
adjective pronouns ; and the similarity of meaning and use 
between the expressions, Give me a book to read, Give me 
some book to read, and. Give me any book to read, may help 
to fix the articles among the pronouns. We shall see what 
adjective pronouns are, presently. 

The must go into the same class also for the present, if 
give me the book you are reading, and give me that book you 
are reading, mean the same thing, and the and that are used 
in a similar manner. So " I saw the strangers you described,'* 
I saw those strangers you described. " I will keep the book 
that I hold in my hand," I will keep this book that I hold in 
my hand, &c., &;c. It is unnecessary to multiply examples. 

The fact is, that the^ although separated from this^ that^ 
these, and those, and called a definite article, is not so well 
entitled to this distinction as they are ; for, if the can be used 
for any one of the four, and they cannot be used for each 
other, it necessarily follows that the meaning of the is more 
general or comprehensive, and, of course, less definite than 
theirs. 

But, says my reviewer, " It is well to have a name and a 
definition for the articles, to call attention to them, and fix 
their meaning in the mind, which is the only object of making 
and defining any distinctions." Well, then, what is his defi- 
nition of the article ? "^?j article is a word prefixed to sub- 
stantioes to point them out, and shorn how far their significa- 



ENGLISH GRAMMAR. 153 

Hon extends.'^ Let us test this definition, which my reviewer 
thinks so very important. " The scholars who hear ??ze," is a 
good sentence for this purpose. TAe, we are told, points out 
the scholars, and shows how far their signification extends. 
But, I am inclined to think, the signification would be just as 
limited if the were entirely omitted, and the sentence were, 
^' Scholars, ivho hear vie. '^ Does not the clause, "who hear 
me,'' though not prefixed to the substantive, point it out, and 
show how far its signification extends ? and is not this clause, 
therefore, a better article than the word the, which is so indef- 
inite that it may be omitted ? 

Again, in the sentence, " Normal scholars, listen to me !" 
is not Normal prefixed to the substantive ? and does it not 
show how far the signification extends ? Why is not Nor- 
mal a good article then ? — Normal scholars are, we all 
know. 

Again, in the name, John Smith, John is prefixed to Smith 
to point the particular Smith out, and show how far the signifi- 
cation of Smith extends. John, then, must be a good article. 
So with loind mill, elm tree, bavji door, &c., where wind, elm, 
and bar7i answer perfectly to his definition of the article. So 
even the verbs gri?id and tell become similar articles, when 
prefixed to the substantives stone and tale ; as, grind-stone, 
tell-tale. So the pronouns in " my child," " his child," " her 
child," become the best of articles, by fulfilling all the con- 
ditions of the definition that my reviewer thinks so essential, 
to show what a true article is. 

I have already shown how my pupil applied the definition 
of the preposition to a verb, and I hesitate not to say, that no 
definition of any part of speech in Murray's Grammar is a 
whit more definite than that. To prove this, let us amuse 
ourselves with an experiment on Mr. Murray's definitions of 
the adverb, preposition and conjunction. 

" An adverb is a part of speech joined to a verb, an adjec- 
tive, and sometimes to another adverb, to express some quality 
or circumstance respecting it;" as, — 

He reads correctly. Correctly expresses some circumstance 
of the verb reads, viz., its quality. 

He reads to me. To expresses a circumstance of reads, 

viz., its direction. 

He reads as I do. As expresses a circumstance of reads, 

viz., its resemblance to my reading. 



154 



THE teachers' INSTITUTE. 



" Prepositions serve to connect words with one another and 
to show the relation between them." 

He wished /or a coach. It is not my business to say whether 
for connects he or wished with 
coach^ but I am incHned to think 
the connection and relation would 
be just as apparent if /or were en- 
tirely omitted. 

He wished hut a coach. But connects words as much as for 
does, and it shows the relation 
between wished and the object of 
the wish, viz., the relation of re- 
striction. 

He wished then a coach. Then connects of course, though it 
may be left out as /or may, and it 
shows the relation of time between 
the wish and the thing wished. 

" A co7ijunction is a part of speech that is chiefly used 
to connect sentences ; it sometimes connects only words." 
Two and three are five. And connects two and three. 
Two with three are five. With connects the same words. 
Two more three are five, That is, 2 -|- 3= 5. 

But enough of this ; the definitions are all wrong, and 1 
should ask pardon for this attempt to expose what is so mani- 
festly absurd. 

3. Next comes the subject of Cases. We have seen that 
several of the old grammarians, noticed by W. H. W., allowed 
no cases, and others allowed but two, — the nominative and 
possessive. Some English grammarians allow but one case, 
and some claim six, not because we vary the noun, as the 
Latins can, in six'^ different ways, but because, by the aid of 
certain prepositions, we can translate their cases into English. 
Thus the Latins say : 





SINGULAR. 








Nominative, 


Homo, 


which 


means 


Man. 


Genitive, 


Hominis, • 


(( 




of Man. 


Dative, 


Homini, 


(< 




to Man. 


Accusative, 


Hominem, 


(( 




Man. 


Vocative, 


Homo, 


(( 




OMan! 


Ablative, 


Homine, 


u 


" \\ 


'ith Man. 



* Latin nouns have usually five variations \\\ the singular, and four in the 



ENGLISH GRAMMAR. 155 

PLURAL. 

Nominative, Homines, which means Men. 

Genitive, Hominum, " " of Men. 

Dative, Hominibus, " " to Men. 

Accusative, Homi?ies, " " Men. 

Vocative, Homines, ** " O Men ! 

Ablative, Hominibus, " " with Men. 

Now, if the Latins have six cases, and we can translate 
.hem by a 'phrase in English, we have as good a right to say- 
that we have six cases, as we have to say that we have four 
or five moods, and forty or more tenses ; because, forsooth, we 
can, by phrases, express what they express by only altering 
the termination of single words. 

Dr. Crombie, by far the most judicious of modern gram- 
marians, says, " If we confine the term noun to the name of 
an object, we shall exclude the possessive from all right to 
this appellation. This is, indeed, an inconsistency, which 
can in no way be removed, unless by adopting the opinion of 
Wallis, who assigns no cases to English nouns, and considers 
mart's, king^s &c., mere adjectives." 

It is clear that, if " a substantive or noun is the name of 
any thing," man^s, and king's, and John's, can not be nouns ; 
for who ever saw such a thing as a man's, a king's, or such 
a boy as John's ? It is amusing to see those who do not 
hesitate to place even the nominative or the objective case 
unchanged before another noun, and call it an adjective, as 
town clerk, city government, head ornament, are afraid or un- 
willing to call the possessive case an adjective, although there 
is no difference of meaning or use between town clerk and 
town's clerk ; the city government, and the city's government ; 
head ornament, or the head's ornament, &c. 

The fact is, that, v/hen we use a possessive case before a 
noun, we do so to distinguish that object from others of the 
same name ; and all words used for this purpose are adjec- 
tives. If I see several hats in a row, and wish to describe or 
distinguish them from each other, I call one neio, and another 
old, to distinguish their age ; one black, and another white, to 
distinguish them by color ; one fine, and another coarse, to 
distinguish their quality ; one near, and another distant, to 
distinguish their place ; one John's, and another Henry's, to 

plural. The iiomiaative and vocative, in both Durnbers, and the dative and 
ablative, iu the plural, are generally alike. 



156 THE teachers' institute. 

distinguish their possessors. Whatever word I use to dis- 
tinguish them becomes an adjective ; and, if this is true when 
a verb, as, tell tale ; a noun, as, tale bearer ; or an adverb, as, 
the very man, are used unaltered, how much rather is it the 
case when a change is made in the termination, for the very 
purpose of making an adjective of the noun, as the termi- 
ation ly makes an adverb of an adjective. 

4. Adjective pronouns are called so because they have the 
nature of adjectives, and are used, like adjectives, to distin- 
guish nouns. The best grammarians call them adjectives at 
once; but some pretend to have discovered that some of them 
— not all — are occasionally used without a noun, and therefore 
are said to stand instead of a noun, and so come under the 
definition of a pronoun, which is said to be, " A word used 
instead of a noun to prevent its too frequent repetition." If 
standing without its noun makes a pronoun of an adjective, 
it may reasonably be suspected that every adjective occasion- 
ally becomes a pronoun. In the sentence, " The wise and 
good are scarce," are ivise and good pronouns, because their 
noun is understood ? 

But, says a shrewd philologist, " It does not follow that the 
words called pronouns stand instead of nouns, any more than 
it can be truly said, that those words which remain in any 
elliptic or abridged sentence stand instead of the words omit- 
ted." Such words refer to some noun that is understood, and 
point it out, but they no more stand instead of what they point 
at, than a guide-board stands instead of a town, to which it 
only directs the traveller. 

The greatest grammarians of other languages, as well as 
of the English, have classed all the pronouns among the 
adjectives, but I have been contented with giving this name to 
the adjective pronouns, and the possessive case of the personal 
and relative pronouns. 

Some, however, may say, " We grant that all the adjec- 
tive pronouns may be used as adjectives, and may have nouns 
understood, which may be easily supplied, but it is not so 
with the possessive cases of personal pronouns, for when, in 
speaking of two books, we say, " This is mi7ie and that is 
yourSy^ although the word hook is evidently understood, we 
cannot supply it, for it will not do to say, " This is mine book 
and that is yottrs book.''' This is all true, but the time was 
when wine was spelled me-en, as yours was your-en, or, con- 
tracted, yoitrn, and this termination en marked an adjective 



ENGLISH GRAMMAR. 157 

as much as ly now does an adverb. Yours is only your^s, the 
possessive termination, which, it has been shown, marks an 
adjective. 

But, what do mine and yours stand instead of? If the 
conversation is between William and John, mine means Wil- 
Hani's^ and yours means John's. It has been shown that 
William's and John's, not being names of persons, are not 
nouns, and, consequently, if miiie and yours stand instead of 
those words, they cannot be pronouns, for pronouns, the gram- 
mar says, are words that stand instead of nouns., and not 
instead of adjectives. 

Again ; if mine and thine ^ hers., ours, yours and theirs, are 
used without, or instead of, nouns that can not be supplied, 
this is not the case with the possessives his and its, for the 
noun may be introduced by the side of these, and this may 
lead one to doubt whether the use of the words mine^ 
yours, &LC., precludes the introduction of the noun. We find, 
therefore, that although, in the case above mentioned, it may 
not be graceful to say, " This is mi?ie book and that is yours 
book,'' yet it is perfectly correct to place the word book else- 
where, and say, " This book is mine and that book is yours," 
in which sentences mine and yours qualify book as much as 
neiv and old would in the sentence, " This book is new and 
that is old," it being ungraceful to say, " This is neiv book 
and that is old book." 

But, if the English nouns have no change of termination 
entitling them to the distinction of cases, they can express all 
the Latin cases, and many more, by the help of prepositions, 
or, often, without their aid. If a noun does any thing, it is 
an agent; if something is done to it, it is an object. The two 
words, agent and object, are the only new ones, I believe, 
that have been introduced into the Common School Gram- 
mar, and whether they can be better explained than the terms 
nominative case and objective case, the teacher will soon dis- 
cover by trial. 

5. Personal pronouns were called nouns by Dr. Wallis, 
and by several succeeding grammarians, and it would be 
much easier to prove them to be so than to prove that they 
are pronouns. They do, however, have this peculiarity, that 
the nominative case or agent is a different word from the 
objective case or object. Then, it may be asked, why not 
call the variations of personal pronouns cases at once, since 
there is really a difference in the words ? Case is derived 
14 



158 THE teachers' institute. 

from casus, a Latin word, ^yhich, some say, means an acci- 
dent, the change of termination being considered an accident ; 
or, as others say, because the cases fall off from the nomina- 
tive. Now, in neither sense, is the objective of the pronoun 
of the first person a case ; for me and us are not produced by a 
change of termination, nor by any such accident as happens 
to Latin nouns. It is safer, therefore, to say that I is an 
agent, and me an object, and to leave the word case until the 
child learns some language to whose nouns the term is appli- 
cable. Any one who will take the trouble to read Mr. Mur- 
ray's remarks under the term case, will see enough, I think, 
to sicken him of this propensity to ape the classic languages. 

6. But the great point of difference between Dr. Wallis, 
Dr. Priestley, Dr. Crombie, &c., and Mr. Murray and his 
imitators, is in the manner of treating the verb. This differ- 
ence is so essential that it must not be lightly disregarded ; 
and the teacher is bound in conscience to weigh well the 
question, " What is the verb in English, and in Avhat manner 
shall it be presented to the mind of a child?"' It is gen- 
erally granted that the English verbs have really no great 
variety of termination, and yet we are told that there is a 
propriety and a convenience in giving the name of tense to 
certain English phrases, because they are translations of 
Latin tenses. 

The example of a Latin and English verb that I have 
given on pages 144-5, must go far, I think, towards showing 
that there is no propriety in giving the name of tense to 
certain English phrases, which are like hundreds of other 
phrases, and have no better right than they to this distinction. 
Why not take other languages than Latin, and translate the 
tenses of their verbs, and say we have those tenses, also ? 
Who can tell where we shall stop ? ^^ 

But, say the old school grammarians, " We certainly have 
three divisions of time, present, past and future, and these are 
subdivided." No one will deny that all nations have an idea 
of past time, and of this, as of the present, history treats. 
They have an idea of future time, also, and this is the prov- 
ince of prophecy or imagination; but, because the idea of 
these three divisions of time is common to all nations, it by 
no means follows that all nations have the same manner of 

t We need go no further than the Greek to find an Optative mood, of which 
the present tense of the verb g-o would be equivalent to " I wish to go." 



ENGLISH GRAMMAR. 159 

expressing their ideas. The English, as has been shown by the 
best authority, have but two tenses, the present and the past ; 
but the English is not so singular in this respect as some 
other languages. Michaelis, in his Syriac Grammar, says, 
" The Syrians, like the 7'est of the Orientals., have but two 
tenses, the past and the future ;'' but, he adds, " by the help 
of the verb or pronoun, they can express the five tenses of the 
Latins, and even a sixth tense ; and they have a sort of pres- 
ent formed by the coalescence of the pronoun and verb into 
one word ; but I have not given these tenses a place in my 
paradigm, lest I should cumber it uselessly." What a pity 
that Mr. Murray, and those who, with him, have " cumbered 
the English grammar uselessly," had not been blessed with 
some portion of the great German's judgment and discretion ! 

There is no propriety, therefore, in thrusting so many mis- 
called tenses into our grammar; and, as there is no good 
authority for any such abuse, let us see if there is any con- 
r.enience in it. It may be convenient for a child who is going 
to study Latin to learn the phrases that correspond to the 
Latin tenses; but is it fair to impose this task upon every 
child ? The number of children in the public schools of 
Massachusetts is about 175,000; the whole- number of 
graduates annually from our three colleges falls short of two 
hundred. A few study Latin without going to college, but 
such do not make any extensive acquaintance with it, and an 
allowance of 300 per annum will be liberal. At this rate, one 
child in about six hundred of those who go to school studies 
Latin, and to accommodate this one, five hundred and ninety- 
nine are compelled to learn what is of no use to them, and 
what really is an insurmountable stumbling-block in their 
way. Can any thing be more unjust ? 

But it is convenient, say some, to have our grammar con- 
form to other languages, that foreigners may learn it more 
easily. This must be a mistake altogether. Grammars con- 
structed for the use of foreigners, are differently composed 
from the common grammar. They are compared with the 
language to be learned, and our terms are translated ifito the 
terms used by the other. Cobbett, who made a good gram- 
mar for Englishmen, made a very different one for French- 
men to learn English. But, grant that the making of our 
grammar on a foreign model helps the foreigner, the propor- 
tion of foreigners who study English is as nothing to our 
own children, especially w^hen it is considered that we can 



160 THE teachers' INSTITUTE. 

adapt our language to only one foreign idiom, and just as far 
as it is forced to resemble one, it is made unlike the rest. 

But in spite of the unnatural form of the common English 
grammars, some say there is a convenience in having the 
moods and tenses and the passive voice, and we can teach the 
use of the language better with them than without them. 
We have seen that, from the year 1653, almost till Mr. Mur- 
ray's day, certainly for more than a century, no such thing as 
moods, and only two tenses, were allowed in the grammars; 
but who will pretend that the English language was written 
with less parity and power in what has been called its 
Augustan age, than at any time before or since ? Addison, 
Swift, Steel, Pope, Johnson, Home Tooke, and Junius, were 
educated in this period, and it is very clear that the English 
language did not suffer in their hands. It is clear that no 
such thing as moods and tenses would have been dreamed of, 
had there been no such thing in Latin ; that is, had the Eng- 
lish never known that there was any other language than 
their own. 

I regret the necessity, but my plan requires that I should 
examine this matter of convenience more thoroughly. If it is 
an object to teach children this mixed grammar, the advantages 
should more than balance the disadvantages, not to the few, 
but to the million, whose only object is to learn English. It 
certainly is less difficult to teach a child two tenses only, than 
to teach him the common system of voices, moods and tenses. 
Let us contrast them by a paradigm. 



PAST TENSE. 
PRESENT TENSE. 



The present tense, being the root of the past, is placed 
below it. The name of the verb being a noun, and the parti- 
ciples being mere adjectives, the English verb has but the two 
forms above given, and these are all it needs. Compare this 
simplicity with the common system, as displayed in the fol- 
lowing paradigm. 



ENGLISH GRAMMAK. 



161 



Compound Perfect. 

Perfect Participle. 

Present Participle. 

Participles. 

Perfect Tense. 

Present Tense. 

Infinitive Mood. 

Second Future Tens 
First Future Tense. 

Pluperfect Tense. 

Perfect Tense. 

Imperfect Tense. 

Present Tense. 

Subjunctive Mood 

Pluperfect Tense. 

Perfect Tense. 

Imperfect Tense. 

Present Tense. 
Potential Mood. 
Present Tense. • 
Ibiperative Mood. 
Second Future Tense. 
First Future Tense. 
Pluperfect Tense. 

Perfect Tense. 

Imperfect Tei:^se. 

Present Tense. 

Indicative Mood. 

ACTIVE VOICE. 



' V 



Compound Perfect. 
Perfect Participle. 
Present Participle. 
Participles. 
Perfect Tense. 
Present Tense. 
Infinitive Mood. 
e. Second Future Tense. 
First Future Tense. 
Pluperfect Tense. 
Perfect Tense. 
Imperfect Tense. 
Present Tense. 
Subjunctive Mood. 
Pluperfect Tense. 
Perfect Tense. 
Imperfect Tense. 
Present Tense. 
Potential Mood. 
Present Tense. 
biPERATivE Mood. 
Second Future Tense. 
First Future Tense. 
Pluperfect Tense. 
I M Perfect Tense. 

I 1 Imperfect Tense. 

Present Tense. 
Indicative Mood. 
PASSIVE VOICE. 



LI 



In teaching what resembles a certain tower of old times, 
and what, from the confusion it produces, may also not improp- 
erly be called Bab-el, it is expected that the child should 
learn not only the names of the voices, moods and tenses, but 
the distinctions that are said to exist between them. But this 
must be impossible, for the builders of the tower do not always 
agree in their definitions and explanations, and when they hap- 
pen to agree, they cannot always make themselves understood, 
I shall not attempt to reconcile them, but shall endeavor to 
show the absurdity of the whole structure 



162 THE TEACHEKS' INSTITUTE. 

The bases of the two towers are the two voices. Let us 
look at them. The whole passive voice owes its existence to 
the fact that, in Latin, there is something of the kind, as has 
been shown on page 145. This voice is formed by adding the 
perfect participle of any verb to some tense or combination of 
the verb Be ; as, Imn diseased ; she ivas concerned, &c. It has 
been shown that the perfect participle is an adjective qualify- 
ing nouns or pronouns, as other adjectives do. And in this ' 
case, we might say I am sick, instead of I am diseased, and 
she was a7ixious, for she was concerned. No one denies that 
diseased and concerned qualify the nominatives I and she, as 
sick and anxious do ; then why not call them adjectives at 
once? and as the child is supposed to know how to conjugate 
the verb to be, and knows what an adjective is, why compel 
him to learn five moods, twenty tenses, and a hundred and 
twenty persons, for the sake of a mere notion called a passive 
voice ? Many perfect participles have adjectives nearly synony- 
mous; and what reason is there for restricting the passive 
voice to participles, when they are situated and used like the 
adjectives, and in some cases mean the same thing? If the 
child knows the forms of the verb Be, he can place after them 
any participle or adjective that expresses his thought, without 
knowing or caring whether the phrase is a passive verb or not. 

Some grammar-makers, and many teachers, have had the 
good sense to reject the passive voice, but several authors still 
retain it, and, useless as it is, it will not be dropped without a 
struggle. Dr. Crombie, one of the best modern grammarians, 
rejects the passive voice, and Bosworth, whose Anglo-Saxon 
Grammar is also a precious English grammar, says, " If these 
cases be rejected by common consent from English nouns, 
why may not the passive voice, and all the moods and tenses 
formed by auxiliaries ? We shall then see this language in 
its primitive simplicity. Dr. Wallis, one of our oldest and 
best grammarians, has divested the English of its Latinized 
forms, and, when speaking of his predecessors, says " — and 
here he quotes the sentence already given on page 149. 

Dr. Webster, who preceded Murray, and, notwithstanding 
all his learning and good sense, was superseded by him, says 
in the first edition of his Grammar, " As to passive verbs, we 
have no such thing in our language. I cannot better express 
my ideas on this subject than in the words of Dr. Ash, who 
observes that, ' Properly speaking there is no passive verb in 
the English language ; for though I am loved is commonly 



ENGLISH GRAMMAR. 163 

called a passive verb, yet loved is no part of the verb, but a 
pariiciple or adjective, derived from the verb love.'' " 

Let us leave the passive voice, then, with but one remark, 
to show how carelessly the verb has been defined by Murray 
and his followers. They say, " A verb is a ivord that signi- 
fies to be, to do, or to suffer ; as, I am, I rule, I am ruledy 
The child, of course, concludes that I-am-ruled is a word, for 
it is a verb, and Murray says a verb is a word, and a word is 
but one word. If the definition be correct, no passive verb 
conforms to it, but the passive voice furnishes some frightful 
loords, as I-might-have-been-loved ; If-I-shall-have-been-loved, 
&c. &c. The definition should read, "A verb is a "phrase that 
signifies, — according to its meaning ! " 

Having despatched the voices, let us look at the moods. 
Of these, as we have seen, the earlier and better grammarians 
had none; for, allowing but two tenses to English verbs, they 
had nothing to make moods of. Murray found four in the 
old British Grammar, and he added a fifth, which he separated 
from the subjunctive of the Latin and of the British Grammar, 
and called the potential. This was the greatest departure of 
Mr. Murray from the model he followed, and it is rather 
amusing to see that one of his followers has transferred the 
whole potential mood of Murray, not back to the subjunctive, 
whence it was taken, but to the indicative ! If such transfers 
can be made, there certainly cannot be a very definite line 
between the several moods, — no line that a child can ever 
discover; and will not the absurdity of such distinctions cause 
all the moods to coalesce at last into one, as it was at the 
beginning ? 

The infinitive mood we have shown to be a mere noun. 
The imperative differs no more from the indicative than every 
verb that asks a question does. Depart ye, is the imperative if 
it have a period or note of admiration after it, and the indicative 
if it have a mark of interrogation. " Depart ye, and begone ! " 
" Depart ye so soon ? " This may not prove that there is no 
imperative, but it does prove that if we have an imperative, 
we ought, for the same reason, to have an interrogative mood. 

Murray says, " The nature of a niood may be more intel- 
ligibly explained to the scholar by observing, that it consists 
in the change which the ve7'b undergoes to signify various 
intentions of the mind, and various modifications and circum- 
stances of action." Let us try this explanation, which Murray 
says is so much better than his definition. '^Love ye," says 



164 THE teachers' institute. 

he, "is the second person plural of the imperative mood. Ye 
love,^' he says, " is the second person plural of the indicative 
mood, present tense, and If ye love is the subjunctive present, 
second person plural." As no one will pretend, I trust, that the 
pronoun ye, or the conjunction if, is any part of the verb, the 
scholar may reasonably ask, " What change does the verb 
undergo to signify various intentions of the mind," &c. ? It 
does no such thing. The verb undergoes no change. 

U??iood denotes " the manner in which the verb is employed," 
as Murray and his followers say, then who is to determine 
how many forms of speech, or manners of using the verb, there 
are in English. Mr. Murray says, " The indicative mood simply 
indicates or declares a thing, or asks a question." Here are 
two forms of expression as different as two 'can be, for when 
a man asks a question, he does not indicate or declare any- 
thing, and he generally changes the place of the nominative. 
Mr. Murray seems to have had a notion that he was embark- 
ing on an ocean without a shore when he promulgated his 
system of moods, for he says, after making five moods, " It is 
necessary to set proper bounds to this business. Instead, 
therefore, of making a separate mood for every auxiliary verb, 
and introducing moods interrogative, optative, promissive, 
hortative, precative, &c., we have exhibited such only as are 
obviously distinct," &c. He certainly is economical, when, 
under the imperative mood, he includes all verbs that com- 
mand, exhort, entreat, or permit, that is, the imperative, hor- 
tative, precative and permissive moods. 

I have sometimes thought that, when I was myself in the 
right mood, and had leisure, I would carry out Mr. Murray's 
suggestion, and see how many moods can be made, as good as 
his specimens. There would be the progressive mood, as, 
lam trying, Itvas learning ; emphatic mood, as, I do love, I did 
love ; the optative mood, which omits the nominative, " Would, 
it were so ! " The regrettive mood, " O that I were as in days 
past!" for, why is not O as much entitled to create a mood, 
as if or though ? — The expostulatory mood, " What ! kill me 
for doing my duty ! " &c. &c. As these moods would have a 
due variety of tenses, if the tower of Babel is not already 
" in the clouds," it may easily be raised there, though I should 
be ashamed to have Him who gave us the noble faculty of 
speech, " come down to see what folly the sons of men had 
builded." 

The whole system of moods seems to me sufficiently 



ENGLISH GRAMMAR. 165 

ridiculous to authorize this treatment of it ; but I must proceed 
to examine the claims of what are called the tenses. 

Dr. Wallis, Dr. Priestley, Dr. Crombie, and other learned 
men, could see but two tenses in our language; for they con- 
sidered tense to have the same meaning in English as in 
Latin, viz., not time, but exteiision, from the Latin word tensus, 
the tenses in Latin being extensions of the simple roots, an 
addition to them, or merely by a change of termination. Dr. 
Lowth could not conceive of a language without a verb to 
express future time, and he added a future tense to the present 
and past of his predecessors. He used a phrase, however, to 
supply what he supposed to be a defect, and set an example 
that was pregnant with mischief; for, from that time to this, 
the number has gone on increasing, until it has doubled, and 
more than doubled, if the hypothetical tense of a late author 
is to be accepted by the faithful, and duly canonized by 
authority. 

We allow, then, two forms, which, in the proper sense of 
the word, we are willing to call tenses, and we call them pres- 
ent and past, not because they actually denote any division of 
time, but because they appear to do so. The authors of our 
Latinized grammars seem to have thought that we could not 
speak of the future and other divisions of time, without setting 
apart some phrase for the purpose, although our ancestors 
contrived to do this without any grammars. But while they 
were about it, they should either have given us all the modes 
of expressing future time, or none of them. They no doubt 
singled out shall and will as signs of this tense, because the 
word to is omitted after them ; but we have other phrases in 
which the to is omxitted, and a great variety of ways in which 
future time is as well expressed. Indeed, I should not be at 
all afraid to assert that no verb ever expresses time, and of 
all tenses, that which is supposed to be the most exact in this 
respect is really the most indefinite. I love, for instance, is 
said to denote the ^present time ; but it does no such thing. 
When I say, " I love every good man that I see," do I mean 
that I only do so at this moment ? Far from it ; I mean to 
say that I have loved them, do love them, and shall love them. 
Hold and do are said to be 'present tenses, but when Hamlet 
says to Horatio, "•Hold you the watch to-night?" and Horatio 
says, " We do, my Lord," what are hold and do but future 
tenses, since the watch was not yet set ? Go, is a present 
tense in good repute, but when Peter says, "-X go ^ fishing," 



166 THE teachers' institute. 

and his companions say, " We also go with thee," go, with- 
out any auxiliary, makes an excellent future. I am., of course, 
is the pattern of present tenses, and yet we constantly say, 
I avi to be punished, I am to die, &c. &;c., in which sentences 
am is as good a future as any in the world. Henry Martin, 
in a letter to a friend, says, " One thing I have found, that 
there are but two tenses in Persian and English. In the 
sentence, ' I will go,' the principal verb is I will, which 
is the present tense. In ^livould have gone^ the principal 
verb is / luovld or I willed. Should, also, is a preterite, 
namely, shalled, from to shalV [See Martin's Life, p. 312.] 
Bosworth, after making the above extract from Martin, adds, 
" He might have added that go and have, after will and 
should, were verbs in the infinitive mood." The excellent 
Martin probably had never seen any English grammar but 
Murray's, and no doubt thought he had made a great dis- 
covery when he made the declaration I have quoted. If it took 
the gifted Martin so long to see his error, how long will it take 
the less gifted millions, who are in the same darkness, to 
grope their way into the same degree of light ? 

Will not the very general belief that the verb expresses 
time excuse me for dwelling a moment longer on this sub- 
ject ? Mr. Murray says, I may go, I can go, I must go, are 
present tenses, but it would be difficult to find any phrases in 
which the time is more indefinite. I may go now or next 
year ; I can go next year, but not to-day ; I must go then, if 
I do not 7101V. What is called the present tense seems to 
speak of all time, or without reference to any time, and hence 
we use it to express propositions that are true at all times; as, 
*' Two and two are four." " The wicked Jlee when no man 
pursueth.''^ " The poor work for the rich." If the English 
language, therefore, possesses any tense capable m itself of 
expressing futurity, that tense is what Murray and his follow- 
ers call the present! Nothing, too, is more common than to 
use this present tense, when we are speaking of past occur- 
rences. Any preacher would think it right to say, " Jesus 
sends aAvay the multitude and retires apart to pray." The 
historian says, " Alfred, encouraged, takes a harp and enters 
the camp of the enemy." If it be said, this is figurative 
language, I grant it ; but it is said oi past events, and it is not 
ungrammatical. 

Mr. Murray places shall and will among the defective 
verbs, because, he says, they lack some forms of a regular 



ENGLISH GRAMMAR. 167 

verb. He calls shall and loill present tenses, and gives should 
and would as their past or imperfect tenses. But. if shall and 
icill are never used wiihout an infinitive after them, if they 
make that infinitive future, and are never used except to 
denote future time, how can he consistently call shall and will 
present tenses ? And if he allows, as he does, that they are 
always signs of the future, how can they have the past tenses 
should and would ? But should and would are as much future 
as shall and will; for, when I say, " I should go next week, if 
he would let me," in what does \h.e futurity of the expression 
differ from that of " I shall go next week, if he will let me." 
So, " I would play to-morrow, if I could^^ and, " I will play 
to-morrow, if I can.'^'' 

If I imll my property to my son, no one doubts that will is 
a present tense ; but, if I loill an action instead, the will, for- 
sooth, is no longer present, but future! And yet, Iioill go, 
expresses a present act of the mind, as much as I loill my 
houses and lands. This has generally been conceded to me 
by teachers, but they say they cannot get over shall so easily. 
Let us see what Dr. Crombie says of this auxiliary. ^^ Shall 
is unquestionably a derivative from the Saxon sceal, I owe or 
I ought, and was originally of the same import. I shall 
denoted It is my duty, and was precisely synonymous with 
debeo in Latin. Chaucer says, " The faith I shall to God," 
that is, " The faith I owe to God." " Thou shalt not kill," 
that is, " Thou oughtest not to kill." In this sense, shall is a 
present tense, and denotes present duty or obligation. But 
as all duties and all commands, though present in respect to 
their obligation, must be future in regard to their execution, 
so, by a natural transition, obserrable in most languages, this 
word, significant of present duty, came to be a note of future 
time. I have considered it, therefore, as a present tense, 
because, 1st, it originally denoted present tense ; 2d, because it 
still retains the form of the present ; and, 3d, because it is no 
singular thing to have a verb in the present tense expressive 
of future time." p. 140. 

When, therefore, we say, " I ivill go," we only express a 
present determination to do an action, which may never be 
done; but which, if done, must necessarily be subsequent to 
the act of the will. So when we say, "1 shall go," we ex- 
press a present obligation so imperative, that it amounts to a 
determination, to go. It is just so with all words that express 
any act of volition, " I wish to go," is as good a future tense 



168 THE teachers' institute. 

as I will go ; and " I determine to go," is as good a future as 
either " I will go," or " I shall go." " I hope to go," " I ex- 
pect to go," " I propose to go," " I intend to go," " I desire 
to go," (fee, &c., &c., are situated exactly like "I will go," 
the only difference being the omission of to before the follow- 
ing infinitive, an accident common to the verbs bid, dare, let, 
and others, as well as to these mystified auxiliaries. 

But many who yield that the passive voice is unnecessary, 
that the moods are of doubtful character, and that the future 
tense expresses no futurity, make a stand at the perfect and 
pluperfect tenses, and refuse to give them up. It was behind 
this tense that my friend at the Normal School, to whom I 
have before alluded, entrenched himself; for he could not 
allow, that, in the sentence, " I have learned my lesson," 
have could be the principal verb ; for, says he, " I have 
learned my lesson," is as different in meaning from " I hate 
my lesson learned," as sorrel horse is from horse sorrel. 
Now, it is not pretended that, when the participle is placed 
before the noun, its meaning is exactly the same as when it is 
placed after it, but only that it is still a participle qualifying 
the noun. When I say " I have learned a lesson," it is clear 
that I have it in the condition which is called learned. So it 
has been said it is absurd to say, " I have my purse lost," for 
" I have lost my purse," because, says the objector, " I can- 
not have what is lost." This reasoning amounts to nothing; 
for lost expresses the condition of the purse, and modifies the 
meaning of have, very much as the negative not does in the 
sentence, " I have not my purse ;" and who will pretend that 
this latter phrase is not good English, because it is somewhat 
paradoxical ? 

This objection appears with more force in the perfect tense 
of verbs that are said to be intransitive ; as, " I have gone," 
" I have been," " I have sinned." I have no doubt that these 
participles are mere adjectives, and qualify the nominative 
to the verb, as if the verb were what is called passive ; for / 
have gone is equivalent to I ar}i gone; been expresses the 
condition of 7, for the objector will not admit that le ex- 
presses any action ; and " I have sinned," is equivalent to " I 
am a sinner;" in which case, sinner qualifies the nominative 
before the verb, as every nominative after a neuter verb 
qualifies the nominative before it. 

Dr. Crombie had a right idea of this tense when he said, 
" It is compounded of the -present tense of the verb denoting 



ENGLISH GRAMMAR. 169 

possession and a perfect participle. It clearly refers to present 
time; this, indeed, the composition of the tense manifestly 
evinces." l( I have, then, is the present tense, and ivritten is 
a participle, they must be called by their right names and 
treated accordingly, whether we can tell what the participial 
adjective qualifies or not. 

I suspect that if participles and adjectives in English were 
varied by gender and number, as they are in French and 
Latin, we should soon see what they agreed with in these 
respects, and, of course, what they qualified. 

The participle amatus, is not only varied in connection 
with the verb sum to express the two numbers, but a-lso to 
express the three genders. Thus the Latins say : 

Amat?^5 est. He (a man) has been loved. 
Amata est. She (a woman) has been loved. 
Amatuw est. It (a thing) has been loved. 
Amati sumus. We (men) have been loved. 
Amatcs sumus. We (women) have been loved. 
Amata sumus, We (things) have been loved. 
The French say : 

L'homme que j'ai vu; 

The man that I have see?i. 
La femme que j'ai vue ; 

The woman that I have seen. 
Les hommes que j'ai vus ; 

The men that I have seen. 
Les femmes que j'ai vues ; 
The women that I have seen. 

In these sentences, the French participle is varied to agree 
with the noun, or with its relative que. 

In Latin, the phrase I have seen is expressed by one word, 
vidi. But in the indicative, perfect, pluperfect and future 
tense of their passive voice, amatus sum, amatus eram, ama- 
tus ero. Slim is the only Latin for I am, eram for I was, ero for 
I shall be ; and yet these tenses are always translated, I have 
been loved, I had been loved, I shall have been loved ; and not, 
I am loved, I was loved, I shall be loved. The French have a 
similar idiom, and say, " Je me suis blesse," which we trans- 
late " I have hurt myself;" and yet suis is the French for a^n, 
and not for have. As there was a time when French was 
more fashionable in England than English itself, it is not to 
be wondered at if some idioms have become common to both 
15 



170 THE teachers' INSTITUTE. 

languages. When, therefore, these classical cavillers account 
for surrCs meaning I have in French, or I have been in Latin, 
it will be time enough for them to complain of the obscurity 
that seems to hang over the English use of have for am, or 
of had for was. 

Whenever I have repeated what all the philosophers have 
asserted, that the verb is a word expressing what is done, the 
grammatikins have always thrown the verb to be at me, and 
demanded whether that expressed any action. If, as is pre- 
tended, it expresses abstract being, without the idea of action, 
it would only be one exception to the most extensive rule in 
our language ; and if the existence of a single exception be 
good ground for rejecting a rule or a principle, less would be 
left of Murray's Grammar than remained of the two feline 
combatants on the field of Kilkenny. I cannot consent to 
argue this question at length, for, if the teacher thinks that be 
never expresses any kind of action, he can consider it an ex- 
ception, although I do not. I shall, therefore, content myself 
with only asking how a person can be active if be does not 
express any action? When God said, " Let light ^e," who 
supposes that light too^, and nothing was done? When the 
Creator called himself the Great I Am, did he mean to call 
himself the Great Inactive ? When I tell a coward to stand 
and be a man, do I merely tell him to continue to exist a noun 
of the masculine gender ? When I add be to a noun, whence 
comes the activity expressed by the compound ? Is there no 
action in be-ioo\, ^e-friend, Z^e-head, ^e-siege ? Numb is an 
adjective, but is Jack Frost idle when he ^e-numbs us ? 
When a learned teacher once told me that he could do noth- 
ing with a class of teachers after I had ^e-grammared them, 
did he mean that my teaching produced no effect ? 

So with the division of verbs into active, passive, and 
neuter ; I see no necessity, and less propriety, in any such dis- 
tinction. I have shown that I am sick, he is dead, &c., are as 
good passive verbs as I am diseased, he is deceased, &c. Mur- 
ray says, " A verb passive expresses a passion or a suffering, 
or the receiving of an action, and necessarily implies an 
object acted upon, and an agent by which it is acted upon ; 
as, Penelope is loved by me." Me is the agent, then, in- 
tended by Mr. Murray. An agent necessarily implies action, 
and the action must be expressed by the help of the verb is, 
if not solely by it. Suj^pose the sentence were, " Penelope 
is offended with me, not vithstanding I love her;" me, I sup- 



ENGLISH GRAMMAR. 171 

pose, is the agent implied, and Penelope is only the nomi- 
native, or, as Murray and his followers say, the subject of 
the verb. This is the same, as if, in regard to the sentence, 
" Penelope hates me," I should say, I do the hating, and 
Penelope is the subject of it. I may not have a distinct 
idea of nonsense, but this comes up to my poor idea of it. 
How simple, compared with such absurdity, is the grammar 
of Dr. Wallis, which would say that Penelope is the agent of 
w, and loved or offended, like sick or mad, are only the adjec- 
tives qualifying Penelope, or expressing the condition of her 
mind. 

This theory of the passive voice obliges those who adopt 
it, to give up the true definition of a nominative, and to say 
that it is the subject, and not the agent of the verb ; a most 
unfortunate result, if only the confusion arising from a new 
use of a well-established expression be considered ; for, if it 
be true that, in the sentence, " I love Penelope," or " I study 
history," I is the subject of love and study, then Penelope is 
not the subject of my tender thoughts, and history is not the 
subject I am studying, although I meant to say they were. 
When we say, Victoria governs Ireland, we of course must 
mean that she is the subject of the action expressed by the 
verb governs ! 

Again; Murray says, "A verb neuter expresses neither 
action nor passion, but being, or a state of being ; as, I sit, he 
lives, they sleep." When the master tells the child to sit, 
then, he tells him to do nothing ! I sit, and I am seated, 
mean the same thing ; but, according to Murray's definition, 
the latter expresses passion or suffering, and the former does 
not ! If any believer in such stuff were compelled to sit three 
hours on the hard and narrow seats to which children are 
confined in some of our district schools, without any support 
to their backs, or any resting place for their feet, we are 
inclined to think he would find action and suffering enough 
in the neuter verb sit, and if he did not get into a passion, 
also, he would be a miracle of patience. 

Moreover, when I say, " He sits on a horse," " He lives 
upon fish," " They sleep in pain," these verbs, we are told, 
" neither express action, nor passion or suflfering," but " being 
or a state of being." And yet, although the neuter verbs ex- 
press neither action nor passion, Murray says, " They may 
properly be called intra7isitive, because the effect is confined 
within the subject, and doe^■ not pass over to any object." 



172 THE teachers' institute. 

The effect, then, of sitting on a horse is confined to the rider, 
and the horse never feels any effect from his load ! ! The 
effect of living upon fish is confined to the eater, and not felt 
by the fish ! When the watchman sleeps, the effect is confined 
to himself, and nobody else suffers ! The fact is, the action 
of every neuter verb may he conveyed to an object by a prep- 
osition, and, although there may be a difference between 
such objects and those of active verbs, they are objects still. 
If I send a child to school, school is just as much an object of 
the mission as child is. Prepositions, says Mr. Murray, serve 
to connect words and show the relation between them. If 
this means any thing, it means that prepositions connect verbs 
with objects, and show the direction of the action expressed 
by the verb. 

I hope these remarks upon the common definition of verbs 
will not be set down as unimportant cavils, for they are serious 
objections ; no system liable to such cavils being fitted for the 
use of children, or capable of being explained to the satis- 
faction of any mature, unbiased mind; for, " what reason never 
dictated, reason can never explain." 

My list of adverbs, and my use of them, do not differ ma- 
terially from Murray's, Prepositions I define to be words 
showing the direction of some action or tendency previously 
expressed, and this is strictly true of all real prepositions, 
except of, which, since it dropped an/, s^ems to express the 
relation of possession, unlike its original, off. Concerning, 
touching, during, pending, and such words, are participles, or, 
as I call them, adjectives, and not prepositions. 

I allow Murray's list of conjunctions to keep the name, but 
I do not divide them into copulative and disjunctive, because 
if a conjunction connects, it is idle to call it copulative, and 
absurd to call it disjunctive. But and or connect sentences as 
much as and does, and the sentences are none the less con- 
nected because there seems to be " an opposition of meaning." 
I say 5ee??z5, for it admits of question whether, in the example of 
opposition given by Mr. Murray, " They came with her, but 
they went away without her," there is any other " opposition 
of meaning" than in any two sentences connected by and ; as, 
" He preached peace, and practised war." Nay, in the sen- 
tence selected as an example by Mr. Murray, and may be 
substituted for but without altering the sense ; " They came 
with her, and went away without her." 

As it regards interjections, none are allowed to be such, 



ENGLISH GRAMMAR. 173 

but those natural sounds, which can hardly be considered a 
part of arbitrary language. Silence ! Hail ! Hush ! and such 
words, belong to other parts of speech. There seems to be 
no doubt that the interjection was the first part of speech 
formed ; for man, like the lower animals, has a natural lan- 
guage, which he uses before he learns that which is purely 
conventional. The infant makes its wants known long before 
it can talk. That the first man, when created, resembled an 
infant in this respect, there seems to be no reason to doubt ; 
for the first notice we have of his uttering any words, is when 
the animals were presented to him to see what he would 
call them. And what did he call them? By some name, 
undoubtedly, that expressed some peculiarity ; as, in English, 
we have a few significant words, buzz, hum, hiss, rush, bawl, 
blow, &c., &c. This would indicate that, next to his natural 
language, he must have used nouns ; and infants do the same. 
The young being says, " Ma, baby, bread," and the mother 
understands him as well as if he used a verb, and was fa- 
miliar with its hundred variations. If it be said that we are 
told that God spoke to Adam before he named the animals, it 
can hardly be supposed that he did this literally ; and, if he 
did, we are not told that Adam answered. The child often 
understands what is said to him long before he can utter a 
word in reply. Men make words only as fast as they need 
them to express ideas, and nations having the fewest ideas, 
have the fewest words. This simple and natural theory is 
not contradicted by Scripture or human experience. I should 
have preferred the name exclamations for such words as are 
called interjections, but I have thought it prudent to continue 
the terms in common use, and, except in calling the nomina- 
tive case an agent and the objective an object, I do not know 
that I have altered a single term, although the necessity of 
using many has been done away, such as the names of the 
moods and tenses, participles, auxiliaries, articles, adjective 
pronouns, possessives, &c. 

Many private teachers have candidly confessed to me that 
the reformation I proposed was very desirable, and would 
greatly reduce the labor of the teacher, while it enabled the 
pupil better to understand and use the language ; but an 
acquaintance with other grammars was a prerequisite for 
admission into high schools and colleges ; and a pupil would 
not be supposed to know any thing, if he did not know 
the popular system, although familiar with the works of all 
15^ 



174 THE teachers' institute. 

the great philologers, who, to a man, reject it. Why is it that 
reform so generally commences at the foot of the educational 
ladder? One would think that, where there is the most 
learning there would he the most enterprise, the most inde- 
pendence ; but I fear that those who accuse the higher semi- 
naries of proverbial attachment to old forms and fixed abuses, 
do them no injustice. 

In my visits to the Institutes of New York and Massa- 
chusetts, I became acquainted with more than a thousand 
teachers, and I am not aware that I met with one who felt 
satisfied with any grammar that he had seen, and very few 
had ever been able to make the study of grammar an agree- 
able exercise to their pupils. The reason is obvious; the 
teachers, not one in five hundred of whom had studied 
Latin, did not understand the mixed Latino-English grammar 
they were called upon to teach, and how could they explain 
it to their pupils ? But, give them the pure English gram- 
mar I have endeavored to describe, and let them require 
their pupils to write English as soon as they begin to read and 
speak it, and no exercise will be so agreeable to the child, and 
so useful to him in all his other studies. 

May I be excused, if, after all I have said on the subject of 
grammar, I say a few words more, by way of caution, to 
teachers. Perhaps there never was a time when there was 
so much need of care and activity as now, to prevent the cor- 
ruption and decline of our excellent language. The press 
has deluged the land with a flood of books, some of which 
are worthy of the best age of English literature, but the mass 
of which are to be shunned for their faults of style, as much 
as for their emptiness, or positively demoralizing tendency. 
Tlie teacher who wishes to make a selection of passages con- 
taining false grammar, or faulty construction, to be corrected 
by his pupils, may readily find abundant materials in the 
light literature, as the heavy trash is called, of the present 
day. He will find novels, tales and romances, written in a 
style often inferior to the sentimental effusions of a boarding- 
school girl ; nay, he will even find many volumes written 
with the perverse intention of disregarding every rule of 
English grammar and orthography. Works of the Jack 
Downing school, witty as some may be, have done more mis 
chief to young and old, in a literary point of view, than a 
regiment of well qualified teachers can undo in half a 
century. Our newspapers, too, which, without pretending to 



ENGLISH GRAMMAR. 175 

do SO, exercise a powerful influence over the popular style of 
writing and speaking, have, with few exceptions, stooped to 
cater to the vulgar taste for cant expressions and slang 
phrases ; and writers who aim at pure and elevated English, 
bear no proportion to those who study to adulterate and de- 
stroy our noble tongue. 

Teachers, therefore, must set their faces sternly against 
this evil tendency of the times. They must guard against 
the use of corrupt expressions, and rigidly prohibit the use of 
them in the conversation and compositions of their pupils. 
They must be careful to associate more with persons whose 
conversation is correct and refined. They must set a watch 
over themselves, as well as hold one over their pupils. It 
was my custom for some time, until I had established a sort 
of public standard of conversation in my school, to reward any 
pupil who detected another in using an ungrammatical or 
vulgar expression, or even in pronouncing a word improperly, 
by giving her what was called a merit or good mark ; and if 
she detected me in any such misdemeanor, she was entitled 
to five such merits. Every expression or word so reported 
was recorded on a sheet kept for the purpose in a conspicuous 
place, and the consequence was, that, in less than a year, the 
record sheet was laid aside, because we had no materials to 
augment it. A sheet of this sort, kept without any promise 
of reward, will be found highly beneficial to both teacher and 
pupils, and will do more to banish bad language and bad 
pronunciation, than all the set grammar les^sons that can be 
given. 

I have gone more at length into the subject of grammar, 
because I think that, in teaching it, we have departed farther 
from the truth than in any other study ; and we have done 
this without any reason or justice. Hundreds of enterprising 
teachers, who allow the justice of my positions, and have 
been desirous to attempt the reform I have proposed, assure 
me that they have been unable to do so, because the com- 
mittees are not enlightened on the subject, or are unwilling to 
assume the responsibility of taking the lead. In this exposure 
of the prevalent system of.English grammar, therefore, 1 have 
had the committees as well as the teachers in view, and I do 
earnestly entreat them to take the subject into the most serious 
consideration. If they complain of my radicalism, let them 
remember, that I only ask them to eradicate foreign weeds, 
that have been scattered amongst our wheat, and have well- 



176 THE teachers' institute. 

nigh choked it. Many who have allowed that I have told the 
truth in regard to the matter of geography, and the manner 
of teaching it, are afraid of my ultraism in English grammar ; 
but let such be assured that I have proposed nothing so radi- 
cal in grammar as they have approved in my remarks on 
geography. Finally, if any accuse me of a want of modesty 
in so often referring to my own grammar, let such remember 
that there is no similar grammar to which I can refer ; the 
grammars in common use being based mainly on the abuses 
introduced by Mr. Murray, and the truly philosophical works, 
on whose authority I rely for all I have asserted, not being 
accessible to one teacher in a thousand. Indeed, in referring 
to my grammar, I, in fact, refer to Dr. Wallis and Other men, 
whose opinions and works I have studied with ever increasing 
wonder at the perversity, which, for so long a season, has pre- 
ferred darkness to light, falsehood to truth, mystery to sim- 
plicity. 

Some of the sternest opponents of this proposed restoration 
of English grammar to its original simplicity, look with favor 
upon the new science of phonography, and are ready to intro- 
duce it into common use ; and yet this new science proposes a 
revolution immeasurably greater than the proposed change of 
grammar. The friends of phonography, it is true, propose to 
discard the foreign alphabet, as I do the foreign grammatical 
terms ; but their success will render the external form of our 
language a dead letter, and send every scholar to learn his 
a, b, c, again. The restored system of English grammar 
requires no study, for he who knows Murray's Grammar, 
knows too much already, and has only to drop a portion of 
what he has acquired. A person, for instance, who has 
studied the popular grammar, knows what an article is, and 
what an adjective ; and when he is told to class the articles 
with adjectives, i^ costs him no effort. He knows what a 
possessive case is, and by what noun it is governed; and 
when told to call it an adjective qualifying the same noun 
that is falsely said to govern it, he finds no difficulty. He 
knows what is meant by auxiliary verbs ; and he has only to 
call them all principal verbs, followed by a participle, which 
he must call an adjective, or by an infinitive mood, which he 
must call a noun, governed by the auxiliary, or rather, the 
object of it. My system alters not the construction of any 
sentence, or the orthography of any word ; it only removes 
what does not belong to our grammar, and by so doing reduces 



ENGLISH GRAMMAR. 177 

the labor of teaching it more umri one half; and, by making 
it more intelligible, makes it more pleasant to the learner. 
Having full faith in the practical good sense of my country- 
men, I have full faith in the final success of the system of 
English that I would restore, and I mistake greatly the signs 
of the times if the restoration is not speedily to be accom- 
plished. 



178 



COMPOSITION. 

I HAVE already said that every step in English grammar 
should be a step in English composition, and my grammar 
provides for this union of the two. I have said, also, that 
every step in reading and spelling should be made an exercise 
in English grammar also. But little remains, therefore, for 
me to say on the subject of composition. 

The orthographical exercises contained in the Companion 
to Spelling- Books, the copying of short pieces of prose and 
verse, and the writing of easy sentences from dictation, made 
my pupils early acquainted with the mechanical part of com- 
position, syllabication, the use of capitals, the division of sen- 
tences, punctuation, &c. As soon, however, as the child 
seemed to require some higher exercise, I was accustomed to 
call up the little class, and tell them a short story or anecdote, 
and then require them to write the same story in their own 
language. As I continued this course for many years, suitable 
stories became scarce, and at last I was obliged to make them 
as they were wanted. This labor was forced upon me also 
by the fact, that the pupils read more story-books than I did, 
and, too often, some one of the class was not a stranger to the 
source of the story that I had selected. In this way I pre- 
pared a vast number of suitable lessons, of which I published 
several in my Primary Reader, to which the young teacher 
may refer for materials, until he finds it for his interest him- 
self to make such lessons for his pupils. 

About this period of their education, my pupils generally 
began to study some other language than their own, and this 
afforded me a fine opportunity to forward them in English 
composition. I required most of their translations to be 
loritten, and I corrected them as carefully as if this were the 
primary object of the new study. Children, who are required 
to write a translation, are more likely to examine the idioms 
of both languages ; and as they are only to supply language 
to clothe the ideas of the foreign author, this exercise may be 
required much earlier than a set composition. 

My next step was to select a subject, and write under it 



COMPOSITION. 179 

such notes or questions as would guide the thoughts of the 
children, and suggest, perhaps, a few of the leading ideas con- 
nected with the subject. The subject, with notes, written 
fairly on a sheet of paper, was posted up in the school-room, 
so that no pupil could plead ignorance of what was required. 

When the pupil had but a small stock of ideas, and was 
prepared to express them, I was accustomed to call the class 
around me, and after stating the subject of their next com- 
position, I conversed with them about it, allowing them to ask 
questions or discuss each others' opinions, until their minds 
were awake to the bearings of the subject, and then I sent 
them away to write what they had gathered from the con- 
versation. I am inclined to think that the children were 
benefited, in more ways than one, by this free interchange of 
thoughts ; and were I again to become a teacher, I think I 
should make conversation a regular exercise of the school. 

Finally, I gave a subject to the highest class, and left them 
to write upon it as best they could, without any assistance. 
If the pupils were studying Rhetoric, I found full employment 
for them by requiring original as well as selected examples 
of the different figures, or of the different kinds of style. If 
they were studying Prosody, exercises in the composition of 
verse were frequently required. I found the translation of 
short poems from some foreign language a valuable exercise, 
and the poetical part of my "French First Class Book" 
contains a hundred or more suitable poems for this purpose. 

Another method by which the pupils were encouraged to 
exert themselves, was the recording of all praiseworthy com- 
positions in a neat book kept for the purpose. I have several 
volumes that were filled in this way by my pupils ; and on 
winter evenings, it was not uncommon for the parents to 
assemble at the school-room and listen to the reading of selec- 
tions from this record. 

Besides these set exercises in composition, I occasionally 
called the classes around a black-board, and taught them 
punctuation by writing sentences for them to punctuate and 
correct. Of course, there may be some difl^erence of opinion 
in regard to some points, but the rules of punctuation are 
about as well settled as those of grammar, and yet on no one 
subject, perhaps, are young teachers so much at a loss. May 
I be excused, then, if I say a few words to them for their 
guidance and encouragement. 

The comma is the main stop, and, of late, it has almost 



180 THE teachers' INSTITUTE. 

superseded the semicolon, colon and parenthesis. A correct 
knowledge of the use of the comma is, in fact, one half of the 
whole science of punctuation. The following rules, perhaps, 
embrace the greater number of occasions when the comma 
must be used. 

1. Two verbs, nouns, or other parts of speech, following 
each other, and not connected by and, must be separated by a 
comma ; as, " That wise, good and great man lived, labored 
and died for his fellow-crealures." 

2. The word and is equivalent to a comma, and, when it is 
understood, a comma must be supplied ; as, " Wise, good, 
great men live, labor, die for their fellow-creatures." 

3. Nouns in apposition are separated by a comma; as, 
" John, king of England." 

4. The name or epithet by which a person is addressed 
must have a comma after it ; as, " John, come here ! " " My 
good friend, forgive me I " 

5. The phrase that includes a case absolute with a participle, 
as Murray calls it, must be preceded and followed by a comma ; 
as, "They, all hope being lost, surrendered." 

6. Certain adverbs are generally preceded and followed by 
a comma; as, indeed, perhaps, moreover, therefore. Nay, 
besides, firstly, secondly, &c., at the beginning of sentences 
or phrases, require a comma after them. 

7. When the exact words of another are quoted, the quota- 
tion must begin with a capital and follow at least a comma. 
The quotation marks must not include words not borrowed ; 
as, " Go," said she, " but return soon ;" and not, " Go, said 
she, but return soon." 

8. A comma marks the omission of a verb; as, " To err is 
human ; to forgive, divine." 

9. All parenthetical clauses or words, that is, all words that 
may be omitted and not destroy the sentence, must be pre- 
ceded and followed by commas ; as, " Grammar, properly 
understood, is a simple affair ; but, unfortunately, it has not 
been so understood." 

The ancients made no use of punctuation, and this has led 
to many mistakes, and much difference of opinion among 
critics. It is probable that to the absence of these points the 
ancient oracles owed much of their renown; for the response 
was generally given so that it would be true whatever was 
the event. It is said that a Grecian king, doubtful about the 
policy of invading a neighboring kingdom, sent to Delphos to 



COMPOSITION. 181 

ask the opinion of the oracle. The answer was not punctuated, 
and they read it, " He shall go, return, not be slain in battle." 
He went and was slain ; and when his friends reproached the 
oracle with want of truth, they were told that they had read 
the answer wrong; its meaning being, " He shall go, return 
not, be slain in battle." 

The semicolon must be used when a comma does not seem 
to be sufficient, that is, w^hen more than the smallest pause is 
needed; but it should not be used instead of a period, as is 
too often the case. It is difficult to give any invariable rules 
for its use. 

1. It generally separates clauses rather than words ; as, 
" He may become the victim of misfortune ; he is incapable of 
crime." 

2. A comma followed by and, or, but, for, because, yet 
seems to be equivalent to a semicolon ; as, " He may become 
the victim of misfortune, but he is incapable of crime." 

Many writers, when in doubt as to the proper stop, make 
free use of the dash, but this is a bad practice, and teachers 
must not tolerate it in their pupils. 

The colon is rarely used, and, perhaps, is never necessary. 
Usage places it still after the words, to ivit : as follows : thus : 
and after the abbreviation, viz: but, in other cases, it had 
better be avoided. 

The period marks the end of a complete sentence, and the 
teacher must be careful not to let his pupils string together 
several sentences. They must be encouraged to write short 
sentences at first, and should always be required to cut up 
such as are too long to be easily managed. Thus the follow- 
ing sentence may be cut into two, at the semicolon. " To 
live is pleasant, and to die may be gain, but, as there is some 
doubt of the gain, most men desire to live ; let them not, how- 
ever, forget, that death cannot always be put off, and he whose 
life is lengthened only to be misspent, will gain little by the 
extension." 

It is a common thing for makers of spelling-books to say 
that a comma requires a pause long enougH to count one ; a 
semicolon, two ; a colon, three, and a period, four. Some, 
who have felt wise, have ridiculed this rule, and said, that 
some commas require a longer pause than merely to count 
one. As the books do not say how fast a person must count, 
it is but fair to conclude that the authors meant that every 
reader should count to please himself, making the semicolon 
16 



182 THE teachers' institute. 

twice as long as the comma, &;c., after the length of the 
comma is agreed upon. Some say, also, that, at a comma 
and semicolon, the voice must be kept up, and others mock at 
this. Yet, it is a safe rule for children, who have little judg- 
ment or discretion, and I should so teach them at least one 
generation longer. 

The exclamation point sometimes seems to conflict with 
the note of interrogation ; as, " What is more amiable than 
virtue ? " If no answer is expected, the exclamation may be 
used, although the sentence has the form of a question. 

Every question must have the interrogation mark after it, 
but it must not be placed after words that are no part of the 
question ; as, " Did you call me ? sir," and not, " Did you 
call me, sir ? " which has a very different meaning. 

As many teachers are at a loss whether the voice should 
rise or fall at the end of a question, I may be excused for 
giving them the almost invariable rule, that, " If the question, 
can be answered by yes or no, the voice must be raised, and, 
in all other cases, it must be allowed to fall." 

The par ejithesis, ( ), and brackets^ [ ], are less employed than 
formerly, and are often misused. For this reason, I never 
allowed my younger pupils to use the parenthesis, but re- 
quired commas instead. The correct rule is, to use the paren- 
thesis when what it encloses is a sort of comment upon the 
rest of the sentence ; and to use the brackets when what they 
enclose, though useful information, is no part of the senti- 
ment ; as, " An eccentric clergyman, preaching against the 
fashions, selected the text (and a ridiculous conceit it was) 
' Top not, come down!' [Matt. xxiv. 17.]" 

The (ia^A, placed after a comma, semicolon, colon or period, 
lengthens the pause. Sometimes it only marks a broken 
sentence. If the teacher allows it to be used to lengthen 
pauses, he must not allow it to be used i7istead of them by 
children. 

The hyphen must never be used at the beginning of a line 
when a word is divided, and no word must be divided except 
at the end of a syllable. No monosyllable can be divided by 
a hyphen. 

The apostrophe marks the Possessive Case, as Mr. Murray 
calls the adjective that is formed from every noun by adding 
the apostrophe and s, or the apostrophe alone. In other cases, 
it marks the omission of one or more letters. Nothing can be 
more loose tha'"< the prevalent custom of using the apostrophe. 



COMPOSITION. 183 

For a general rule, it must never be used to omit a letter in 
prose, and never, even in poetry, if the omission does not alter 
the pronunciation of the word. In the Companion to Spelling- 
Books, I have given many rules and exercises on this subject. 

As the ( . ) is used to mark the end of a sentence, an abbre- 
viation, and the place between units and decimal fractions, the 
teacher will do well in the first case to call it a period ; in the 
second, a dot; and in the third, apoi?it. 

Every word abbreviated, unless it be by an apostrophe, 
must have a dot placed after it. This rule is so little regarded, 
that teachers cannot too carefully look to it. At every Teach- 
ers' Institute the Secretary of the Board of Education re- 
quired the young teachers to write a letter, and the result was, 
that not one in twenty knew how to begin and end one, in 
every respect, correctly. I shall do a favor, then, by giving a 
form, which they may follow with safety. 

Boston, Oct. 14, 1846. 
John Smith, Esq., 

My dear Sir, 

I herewith send you a copy of the 
" Teachers' Institute," which has been written in great haste, 
but with great good will. Of course, all descriptions must 
be dull compared with an actual lesson, but, if this volume 
shall enable you to profit, however little, by my long experi- 
ence, I shall be well rewarded for my trouble in AATiting it. 

Yours, very respectfully, 

Wm. B. Fowle. 

If more epithets are used at the end, let each occupy a dif- 
ferent line, thus : 

Very respectfully. 

Your humble servant, 

\Vm. B. Fowle. 

Recollect that no dot of abbreviation must ever be placed 
after an entire w^ord. The address of the person for whom 
the letter is intended, should always be written on the inside 
of the letter, and it is safer to begin with the name than to 
place it, as some do, at the end, on the left hand side ; for, if 
left to the last, it may be forgotten ; and if placed first, should 
the letter be misdirected on the outside, the direction on the 
inside will first strike the eye, and induce any honorable per- 
son to close it at once, and consider it a sacred trust, to be 



184 THE teachers' institute. 

kept in charge for the real owner. It is safer, too, to put the 
date where I have placed it, lest it should be forgotten. I 
generally omit the 'place after the name of my correspondent, 
but some careful merchants always insert it, that, if the letter 
falls into the wrong hands, the error may be rectified. When 
I insert the place^ I direct the letter at the end, for the sake of 
appearances. May I be excused if I warn my young female 
friends of the besetting fault of their sex, the entire omission 
of dates, especially in what they consider unimportant billets. 
May I also caution all writers of letters to superscribe them 
as fast as they are written. I have twice received letters from 
gentlemen, who, in writing to me and to their wives, at the 
same sitting, sealed both letters, and then directed them to the 
wrong persons. Few persons fold a letter well, and seal it 
neatly, and none can be too careful in directing it to write a fair 
hand. The name of the person should be much larger than 
the common hand of the writer, and the name of the place, 
larger still. If directed to a town of the state in which the 
writer resides, it is not customary to place the name of the 
county, as well as that of the state, after the name of the 
town. Some omit both county and state, and the postmasters 
understand that a town so left is in the state where the letter 
is mailed. But, where the town is in another state, the town, 
county, and state, if known, should all be plainly designated. 
My position, as publisher of the Common School Journal, 
has led me to notice the great inattention of teachers to these 
forms, or I should not feel authorized to allude to what seems 
so obviously proper. 



185 



THE MONITORIAL SYSTEM; 

A Lecture delivered before the Teachers' Institutes at Ando- 
ver arid elsewhere, in Oct., 1846, by William B. Fowle. 

My fellow- teachers, I think you will bear me out in the 
assertion, that one of the most difficult parts of a teacher's duty- 
is the keeping of every pupil usefully employed all the time. 
The number of children in our schools is often so large, that, 
if divided into few classes, the class is so large that it must 
embrace many who are unfit to work together; and if the 
classes are numerous, some must be neglected, because it 
requires as much time to hear the recitation of a small class 
as of a large one, the length of the lesson being the same. 

I know not that I can enforce this point more clearly, and 
more effectually, than by quoting the words of the first Presi- 
dent of the Essex County Convention of Teachers, the Hon. 
David Choate, who, while chairman of the Committee of 
Education in our Legislature, is reported to have said, "I am 
confident, from my own observation, that nearly all occasion 
for severe discipline in schools is owing to the fact, that most 
children at school really have nothing to do for a very large 
part of the time. In a school of fifty scholars, no one is en- 
titled to more than three minutes and a half of the teacher's 
time in half a day. The child must sit still, if he can, nearly 
three long hours, and a teacher is held to be no teacher, and 
his school, no school, if children so situated — play. Inno- 
cent creatures, the hope of parents, and the hope of the state, 
are whipped from one end of the commonwealth to the other, 
for no earthly reason than because they have nothing to do 
that they know how to do. Now, sir, what is the remedy ? 
It is, clearly, to employ so many assistants as to occupy the 
whole time of the pupil. It is sometimes said that a child's 
time is not worth any thing, and if they are out of the way, 
no matter if they do not learn. That parent makes a wretched 
bargain who gains relief from the presence of his child by 
sending him into a large and idle school. He may learn 
nothing there that is valuable, but it by no means follows that 
he learns nothing. Idleness is the hotbed of mischief, the 
16=^ 



186 THE teachers' institute. ^ 

nurse of vice and crime, and how many owe their distaste for 
study, their irritable tempers, their diseased bodies, to the 
constrained idleness of the school-room. There is but one 
remedy, — we must have more teachers.''^ 

So the Examining Committee of the Boston schools, in 
their memorable Report of 1845, say, — "It will be found 
upon examination that, in most cases where severe injury has 
followed corporal punishment in our schools, the offence was 
very trifling, and no great severity intended when the master 
began to strike. Moreover, it is beyond all question that, in 
the majority of cases of corporal punishment, and other kinds 
of punishment, in our schools, it is inflicted for violations of 
arbitrary rules of discipline, for whispering, for disorderly 
conduct arising from bodily uneasiness, the fault as much of 
the school as of the scholar. Whoever will go into our 
schools, at any hour of the day, will find a large portion of 
the scholars unoccupied by any study ; they may have a book 
before them, but as its contents are insipid, or, perhaps, incom- 
prehensible, yet, nevertheless, to be committed to memory ; 
and as there is no master immediately over them, they do not 
study. Now, to expect boys, full of young life and pent-up 
vigor, to remain motionless, is to expect that which is impos- 
sible ; oftentimes, the best boys, those who will make the 
ablest and best men, will manifest their uneasiness in such a 
way as to bring down punishment. Something is wrong.'''^ 

" We must., then., have more teachers.'^ But who does not 
know that, much as the Board of Education have done to 
improve the character of teachers, and augment the number of 
good ones, so far from increasing the number employed in our 
large schools, the expense of even one teacher is more care- 
fully calculated than any other item of public expenditure. 
Much is said about the incalculable value of general educa- 
tion, but the highest expenditures are still within the reach 
of very limited arithmeticians. I hesitate not to say that, 
compared with the importance of its object, no appropriation 
is so small as that usually made by our towns for the support 
of public schools. What should be expended in education, 
that is, in prevention, is generally expended in the support 
of prisons and poor-houses ; for the public have not yet learned 
that, to pay the great and accumulating debt incurred for sup- 
porting paupers and restraining or punishing criminals, there 
is but one adequate sinking-fund, — a good education of chil- 
dren in knowledge and virtue. 



THE MONITORIAL SYSTEM. 187 

But, as our schools are now constituted, the natural increase 
of pupils involves a proportionate increase of expense, and 
unless the constitution of the schools is altered, we cannot, in 
the present state of public feeling, expect to see any important 
reform. He, therefore, who can propose a plan, by which 
all the additional teachers that we need may be obtained with- 
out any additional expense, must be esteemed a benefactor, 
and this is the improvement that I now intend to propose for 
your consideration. 

So far as I can learn, there never was a time when the 
teachers of our New England schools were not accustomed, 
in one way or another, to call in the assistance of their pupils. 
When I was at school, the highest class boys were often em- 
ployed to hear the lower classes recite English grammar ; and 
this they could do as well as the master, for the recitation 
consisted in merely saying a few lines of the text-book by 
rote, without any explanation of terms, or application of princi- 
ples. So every large boy was required to take a small one 
and set his copy. And, worse than -all, certain boys were 
constantly employed to call out or name talkers and other 
offenders, and he was a bold fellow who dared to remonstrate 
against such a nomination, the master seldom if ever inquiring 
into the truth of the accusation. 

Parents and School Committees knew that this was the 
practice, but I never heard that any objection was made to it, 
until it was proposed avowedly and systematically to use the 
pupils as assistants to the teacher. Then, forsooth, it was 
fraught with danger, and violently denounced ; although, at 
the worst, it could be no more than a benevolent experiment 
to remove an acknowledged defect in our system of instruc- 
tion. 

The Lancasterian method was a charitable invention, ap- 
plied at first to the education of the utterly ignorant millions 
of England, in the merest rudiments of a common English 
education. Had the English government patronized the 
schools, they would have done all tkat was expected from 
them ; but it has never comported with the plans of that gov- 
ernment to educate the people ; and even at this moment, 
the whole amount appropriated by Parliament to educate the 
twenty-seven millions of Great Britain and Ireland, is less 
than is appropriated by the city of Boston alone. A few 
choice Lancasterian schools in England and Scotland were 
completely successful, but they depended upon individual 



188 THE teachers' institute. 

enterprise, and not upon the patronage of government. In 
France, the system of Mutual Instruction, as that allowing the 
use of pupils as assistants was called, was adopted as the 
national system under Napoleon, and it was working won- 
ders, when the restoration of the Bourbons revived the old 
parish schools, taught gratuitously by the priests, for the sake 
of the influence it gave them over the politics, as well as the 
religion, of the people. Lancaster came to this country, but 
he was out of his element here ; and so little did he know of 
our wants, and of the expansive capabilities of his own system, 
that he spoke of New England as if it were old England, 
and denounced every deviation from his plan as a damning 
error. Lest, in my remarks upon the use I make of monitors, 
I should be suspected of using the plan as taught by Lan- 
caster, it may be well for me to say, that, when he visited my 
school in Boston, he refused to acknowledge it as a legitimate 
branch of his system. I had retained the great principle of 
requiring pupils to teach as well as learn, but I had rejected 
all the machinery and tactics that he had used in teaching 
the uneducated and unciviHzed masses of England. 

In this country, the system was first tried at New York, by 
a benevolent association, who established schools like those 
of England, for the destitute poor, and for the merest elements 
of learning. For twenty years or more, those schools, in 
which four or five hundred were taught by one teacher, were 
the boast of that city. In imitation of the metropolis, the 
whole state adopted the plan, and the reports, for some years, 
spoke of the experiment as completely successful. Why it 
has become so entirely disused in that great state, I could 
never discover ; but from my acquaintance with the teachers 
and schools of New York, and many inquiries of the super- 
intendents, I am satisfied that it was not from any fault inhe- 
rent in the system, but from its mismanagement by inexperi- 
enced or incompetent teachers. 

In the city of New York, the Monitorial System is still 
continued, and lately they have established normal schools for 
the instruction of monitors as well as teachers. Let it be 
remembered, however, that these schools have always been 
charity schools, managed by a society ; the pupils are of the 
poorest and least permanent portion of the population, and little 
more than the merest rudiments of knowledge are required 
to be taught in them. Their 34 large schools now average 
300 pupils each, under one teacher and one " assistant ; and 



THE MONITORIAL SYSTEM. 189 

the 13 primary schools average 300 also, with but one teacher 
and one assistant. As the pupils belong to a class seldom if 
ever seen in even the large towns of New England, the fail- 
ure of such schools can prove nothing here, and their success 
and lengthened existence are almost miraculous. When there 
was a proposition to introduce the Monitorial Plan into the 
Boston schools, a comparison was instituted between the 
schools of the two cities, and it being evident that the Boston 
children had advanced further than the others, this was 
at once concluded to be the consequence of the different sys- 
tems, and no change was made. At the same time it w^as 
true, that the greater part of our children attended the public 
schools from 4 to 10 years, while the average attendance at 
the New York schools did not exceed one year. The first 
time I visited those schools, a young teacher was shown to me 
as a prodigy, and the wonder arose from the circumstance, 
that he was the only teacher that had ever been trained in 
their own schools! Had the comparison been confined, as it 
should have been, to the discipliiie of the rival schools ; or had 
proper allowance been made for the different quality of the 
pupils, the New York system would not have suffered. Phila- 
delphia also took up the system, and the following extract from 
the Report of the Controllers of the Public Schools will show 
their present condition. " It will be remembered," say they, 
" that, at the introduction of the Monitorial System here, one 
teacher, aided by monitors taken from his own pupils, was 
considered sufficient for the care, and government, and instruc- 
tion of 300 children. =^ ^ ^ The effort now made is to 
furnish, even at considerable increase of expense, an adequate 
number of well-qualified teachers, so as to secure to each 
child a due share of instruction from his teacher." This is 
merely making the monitors what they ought to be, assist- 
ants and not substitutes for teachers. At first, the merest ele- 
ments were taught, and one master sufficed ; but, just in pro- 
portion to the new branches introduced, must be the increase 
of teachers or the diminution of pupils. 

The plan was never generally adopted in any part of New 
England. New Haven has maintained one popular school 
more than a quarter of a century, and it is still prospering 
under the original teacher. Portsmouth"^ followed next, and 

* In the summer of 1345, at a meeting of many friends of Education at 
Concord, N. H., the Governor and both branches of the Legislatnre being 
present, Levi Woodbury, late Secretary of State, and now Judee of the 



190 THE teachers' INSTITUTE. 

for many years its Monitorial School was the best school of 
any kind in that state. Two public schools at Newburyport 
followed, and did much to raise the standard of their schools. 
But the plan was unluckily supposed to be only fitted for 
teaching the elements, and for enforcing good discipline, and 
when this was done, the system was discontinued, instead of 
being adapted to the improved condition of the children. Nan- 
tucket tried the system, and liked it for some years, but she 
has gone back to the old plan. Providence once had an 
excellent private school on this plan, but has none at present. 
Springfield tried the plan in one large school with entire suc- 
cess, but after two years, a change of masters put an end to 
the experiment. Portland bought off the excellent teacher of 
the Portsmouth school, but in time the system was disused, 
and the teacher was shorn of his strength, when his favorite 
system departed. The only monitorial school extant in Mas- 
sachusetts is one at Boston for boys. It has been in opera- 
tion about eighteen years, and has annually sent forth as 
thoroughly instructed youths as any in the city. The number 
of pupils has never been large enough to make the use of 
monitors a matter of necessity, but the teacher has always 
used them from choice, and teaching every pupil as much as 
any other faithful master does, all the practice obtained by 
this mutual instruction is clear gain. 

It fell to my lot to make the first experiment on this plan in 
Boston. In 1821, the Primary School Committee, of which 
I was a member, collected about ninety girls and ninety boys 
who went to no school, being thought too old for the primary 
schools, and too ignorant to be admitted into the grammar 
schools. The grant to support a temporary school for the 
instruction of these neglected children was very small, and we 
adopted the monitorial plan because we had not money 
enough for any other, the whole grant being but 1000 dollars, 
of which more than half was expended in fitting up the school- 
room. We borrowed a teacher from Albany, who was 
recalled in a few weeks ; but, rather than let the experiment 

Supreme Court of the United States, being prevailed on to address the very 
respectable audience, remarked that in his opinion there had been but one 
invention in the art of leaching for more than half a century, and this was, 
" the emplntpncnt of the pupils as assistants to the teacher." The excellent 
school at Portsmouth, of which he had been overseer, was one of the facts on 
which his discerning judgment was based ; the great success of Dr. Arnold 
in England, whose improvements in school discipline depended upon the use 
of his pupils as assistants, was another. 



THE MONITORIAL SYSTEM. 191 

fail, I assumed the office of teacher, and carried on the school 
two years. Nothing could have been more unpropitious than 
this commencement, whether we consider the want of funds, 
the character of tlie pupils, or the inexperience of the teacher, 
who had never seen a monitorial school, nor taught any school 
on any plan. 

The first difficulty arose from the fact that none of the 
unfortunate pupils knew enough to teach their companions, 
and the best of them were supposed to be unworthy of trust for 
a moment. The superior committee ordered the teacher of 
a regular grammar school in the same building to lend me 
a dozen boys, and he sent me the worst he could select; 
remarking that, " if the experiment succeeded, it should not 
owe its success to his scholars." Fortunately, a few girls, 
who had become discontented at some grammar school, were 
allowed to enter mine, and these I employed as my assistants, 
sending back all the boys that had been so generously loaned. 
As many of my boys were large, and as all, boys and girls, 
were unaccustomed to order or subordination, it is an interest- 
ing fact, that, for two years, that school was mainly taught by 
female monitors, and instances of disobedience and misconduct 
were as unusual, to say the least, as in any other school. 
When the school was publicly declared by the mayor to be 
second to no grammar school in the city, I felt that my duty 
was done, and I immediately resigned. The children were 
all transferred to the grammar schools, for which they were 
all fitted, and the " School of Mutual Instruction," as it was 
called, was discontinued. 

A few days after my resignation, some members of the 
School Committee, with other gentlemen who had watched 
my experiment, proposed a school on the same plan for their 
own children, and made me such a liberal offer, that I relin- 
quished the business to which I had been trained, and which 
I had carried on while teaching the other school, and thence- 
forth devoted myself exclusively to the work of instruction. I 
taught this second school more than seventeen years, having, 
on an average, over a hundred pupils, without any limit in 
regard to age. In addition to the common branches, I taught 
Latin, French and Spanish ; natural history and natural phi- 
losophy in all their departments ; astronomy, book-keeping, 
&c. &;c., without any assistance except what was afforded by 
my own unpaid pupils. This plan enabled the trustees to 
reduce the rates of tuition to about half those of other schools 



192 THE teachers' institute. 

where the same branches were taught, and yet the surplus 
income, beyond all expenses, eaabled the trustees to purchase 
a choice library of 600 volumes, a better apparatus, and more 
of it, than any academy or school in the state possessed, besides 
paying for the instruction of all our pupils in vocal music, 
dancing, drawing, painting and needlework, branches that I 
did not attempt to teach. 

This experiment was not entirely lost upon Boston, for, 
four or five years after I commenced, the city established a 
High School for girls, entirely on the monitorial plan, and 
this school enjoyed a high reputation the two years that it 
continued. In fact, the immediate cause of its discontinuance 
was its popularity, for the applicants for admission were so 
numerous, that not half could be received ; and, as the parents 
of the rejected ones clamored for more high schools, the ques- 
tion arose whether several such should be established, or such 
alterations made in the grammar schools as would afford the 
highest class of girls all the advantages of a high school. 
The latter course was adopted ; the girls were allowed to stay 
at the grammar schools two years longer than the boys, who 
had a high school ; the masters of the grammar schools were 
required to teach all that had been attempted in the high 
school, and then the monitorial high school was discontinued. 
The experiment, however, was considered perfectly successful, 
and had new schools been established, they would undoubtedly 
have been on the same plan. 

Again, in 1831, the School Committee, believing that some 
radical change in the city schools was necessary, voted, 
unanimously, I believe, to introduce what they considered a 
monitorial plan into all the grammar schools. Our buildings 
had two rooms, in each of which was a master and usher. 
Half the pupils were in each room alternately ; in one, learn- 
ing writing and arithmetic, and in the other, reading, gram- 
mar and geography. The masters were equal in rank and 
independent of each other, and the same system, called the 
" double-headed system," is now in force in most of this class 
of schools. The new plan proposed to have but one master, 
one adult assistant subordinate to him, and six paid assistants, 
young persons, but not pupils. The old grammar masters 
were made the new principals, and they, from motives of 
friendship made the old writing masters their assistants, who 
were willing to serve at very reduced salaries. All the 
ushers were dismissed, and three young assistants appointed 



THE MONITORIAL SYSTEM. 193 

instead of each of them. As the principals were known to be 
opposed to the change, and as the aduh assistants, the old 
writing masters, were interested in having the old order of 
things restored, it would require no great discernment to fore- 
see the result of the experiment in such unfriendly hands. 
At the end of two years, it was declared a failure ; the double- 
headed system was restored, and has continued, with one or 
two exceptions of new schools, until this day. Two circum- 
stances, however, should be mentioned in connection with this 
experiment. The teacher of the Boylston School, one of the 
largest and best, having lost his usher, requested permission 
to use monitors taken from his pupils, and conducted his 
school, with no other assistance, more than a year before the 
experiment I have just described. His success had been 
so complete, and the economy so evident, that the committee 
voted him extra compensation for his services. When the 
schools were put back, his school went with the rest. Another 
teacher, finding that the paid assistants did not work well, 
freely employed his pupils, and from being the poorest school, 
his had become second to none, — his second class reading 
and pursuing all the studies of the first class, — when, to the 
great regret of this eminent teacher, the double-headed system 
was reestablished. It has always been a source of regret to 
me that my friends, the Boston teachers, were so afraid of the 
system that I loved, because, knowing how arduous are their 
duties, I wish them to be furnished wnth the only means that, 
in my opinion, can afford them any substantial relief. 

The city of Boston has had four successful trials of the 
system in her public schools, and two in private hands. Five 
or six different teachers have been found competent to conduct 
these difficult experiments, and probably every master in the 
public service is equally competent, and yet the schools are 
going on in the old way, at double the expense that would 
be required if the use of pupils as assistants was allowed. 

I have entered into these details, although somewhat tedious, 
because I sincerely believe, as I have before said, that the 
failure of attempts to teach on the Monitorial Plan has not 
arisen from any defect in the system, and ignorance of this 
fact is leading us to reject an instrument, which, if judiciously 
used, may be of incalculable advantage. I have thought this 
sketch of the history of monitorial instruction necessary also 
to a full understanding of the further remarks which I may 
17 



194 THE teachers' institute. 

make upon some theoretical objections to the plan, and upon 
its advantages over the old system. 

In the first place, then, a prejudice has always existed 
against the Monitorial Plan, especially as Lancaster taught it, 
because at first it only aimed at humble attainments. Its first 
object was to teach the ignorant poor, and it has been called, 
by way of derision, the pauper system. If I thought this 
objection could have any weight with an intelligent person, I 
would attempt to refute it, but it is idle to argue against 
prejudice. 

A more specious objection is, that children have not judg- 
ment enough to govern children. This objection has probably 
arisen from the teacher's entrusting too much to his monitors. 
Require too much of an adult, and he will fail to do it well. 
Give an adult too much power^ without proper checks and 
restrictions, and the chance is a hundred to one that he will 
abuse it. Children do not differ from adults in this respect; 
but they may surely be trusted to a certain extent, and are as 
faithful, as honest, and as anxious to do well as we are. Can 
we expect them to do better than their elders ? The objection 
goes upon the assumption that monitors are to be allowed to 
reward and punish, and to make rules and affix penalties, 
without being accountable for their conduct ; but, in every case 
that can possibly be anticipated, the power and duty of a moni- 
tor should be defined, and appeals to the teacher should 
always be respectfully considered. But if it be insisted that 
the young are less sincere, less docile, less teachable, less just, 
less anxious to do right, and less pure in heart, than adults, I 
solemnly deny the charge ; and, if my twenty-one years' experi- 
ence with monitors, as well as with children, does not give 
weight enough to the denial, I will ask, why a certain great 
Teacher, to whom we all bow, once selected a little child 
and set him up as an example to men, whom he had just sent 
forth to teach the world. 

I have no doubt that monitors may occasionally have been 
unfaithful to their trust, but not oftener than adults ; the failure 
is an exception to the general conduct. A monitor who has 
to teach a child of inferior ability, may become tired, and may 
slight a lesson; a child, whose judgment is exercised by a 
perverse little class, may sometimes err; such a one may 
sometimes be partial to the good and harsh to the disagreeable ; 
but when this little one is arraigned, who is the teacher that 
will not stoop and write his accusation in the sand, that it 



THE MONITORIAL SYSTEM. 195 

may be erased and forgiven, rather than rise up and cast the 
stone that will condemn himself as well as the little offender ? 
The child who is exposed to no such trial, but who is only- 
required to have no intercourse with his fellows ; the perfec- 
tion of whose conduct is to keep silence and sit immovable, 
possibly may not err, but the hermit who retired from the 
world that he might not sin, blasphemed when he accidentally 
overturned his only furniture, a pitcher of water. Indeed, it 
is a fair question for the moralist, whether a system that tries 
the character in youth, and develops traits that would other- 
wise have gi'own with the growth, and strengthened with the 
strength of the child, and thus have become an incurable de- 
fect in the adult character, is not to be preferred on this very 
account. The moral character, the moral sentiments, must be 
educated, as well as the intellectual faculties ; but how is a 
moral sentiment to be instructed unless it can act, can mani- 
fest itself? He is a man who regulates his faculties, and not 
he who never uses them. The child who commits to memory, 
as many do, a whole moral class book, or every chapter in 
the Bible, knows not his own strength or weakness, and in the 
hour of trial or temptation, will be as helpless as the drowning 
child that has only learned to swim on the parlor floor. 

I could detain you for hours with the detail of cases in 
which I have seen the better feelings of the heart, and the 
most delicate moral sensibility, exhibited as a consequence of 
the relations between monitor and pupil, but I will only allude 
to one or two classes of such cases. It was not unusual in 
my school, when a pupil was inclined to talk, or otherwise 
habitually to offend, for two pupils who never offended, to 
ask that she might sit between them, to be out of temptation. 
It was no uncommon thing, when a very young pupil was 
often reprimanded, and yet continued to offend, for some older 
pupil, of excellent character, to become bound for her good 
behavior; in which case, the little one was allowed to sit next 
to her, where she could be separated from companions whose 
influence was unfavorable. The child generally became so 
attached to her patron that I had no more trouble with her. 
I had monitors, therefore, for moral training, as well as in the 
comparatively unimportant matters of reading, writing, gram- 
mar, &c., the knowledge of all which, without a cultivated 
moral sense, is a curse oftener than a blessing. Dr. Arnold, 
of England, perhaps the most remarkable teacher of the pres- 
ent century, who reduced one of the most vicious and ungov- 



196 THE teachers' institute. 

ernable schools not only to order, but to Christian sobriety, did 
this through the medium of monitors. He rarely, if ever, 
used them as assistants in teaching the various branches of 
knowledge; but in reclaiming the school from vice, and gov- 
erning it afterwards, the point in which monitors are said to 
be especially miqualified, he found their aid indispensable. 
"I could do nothing without my Sixth Class," said he. 
" When I have confidence in the Sixth," was the end of one 
of his farewell addresses, " there is no post in England that I 
would exchange for this ; but if they do not support me, I 
must go." When fears were expressed that mischief would 
ensue from the method he pursued, his memorable reply was, 
" The victory of fallen man lies not in innocence, but in tried 
virtue." " I hold fast to the great truth," said he, that 
" Blessed is he that overcometh." 

If, therefore, the employment of monitors, under the eye 
and direction of the teacher, will afford them opportunities of 
cultivating the judgment, the conscience, the kind affections; 
if it will strengthen those who are right, but weak in moral 
courage ; if it will expose those who are defective in morals, 
and thus lead to their timely correction, this plan is the very 
touchstone we need. The best disciplined minds are often 
found in those children, who, by what the world terms a mis- 
fortune, are thrown upon their ow^n resources, and early accus- 
tomed to the exercise of their moral and intellectual faculties ; 
and do I err when I say, that no good opportunity for such 
exercise is afforded in common schools, where each is required 
to hoard up knowledge, and is forbidden to impart it to others ; 
where intercourse is prohibited, and whispering is high trea- 
son ; where change of place, if not of position, is punished 
as depravity; where implicit obedience is the divine right of 
the teacher, and the divine wrong of the pupil ; w^here, in fact, 
the best pupil is he who most nearly resembles an automaton ? 

It has been objected, too, that the employment of pupils as 
monitors increases that love of domination, which is already 
too active in the youthful breast. I believe this charge to be 
unjust, even when the delegated power is not under proper 
restraint ; and it certainly is unjust, when the teacher does his 
duty as a watchful overseer. It must be recollected, that the 
monitors in every branch are the best pupils in that particular 
branch, and every monitor may also be a pupil of his fellow- 
scholar, as he is of the master ; and though, one hour, he may 
govern his class according to fixed laws enacted by the mas- 



THE MONITORIAL SYSTEM. 197 

ter, and well understood by every pupil; the very next hour, 
he may be subject to one of the very pupils that he had just 
directed. The monitorial plan, as 1 used it, is the true demo- 
cratic one ; the children all had a chance at the offices, though 
only the qualified and the deserving were appointed. Being 
sometimes governed, children are less likely to become impe- 
rious ; and sometimes commanding, they will not too easily 
become servile. 

About the worst pupil in my first school was reformed by 
being made a monitor. One day, a class of eight or ten small 
boys, who only wanted age to be as bad as himself, entered 
school while I was at my wit's end to know what to do with 
the large offender. " Do you know those boys ?" said I. " I 
believe I do," said he. " Bad fellows, are they not? " said I. 
" I guess you '11 find them all that," said he. " Well, now," 
said I, " you know better than I how to manage such fellows; 
why can't you be their monitor, and teach them how to be- 
have ? You may teach them what you can, but the main 
thing is to bring them to order. Will you try to help me ? " 
He was evidently moved by my confidence in him, and yet 
seemed to doubt my sincerity. When convinced of this by 
being introduced to the new comers as their monitor, he 
arranged them in order, and prepared, as well as he knew 
how, to teach them. Soon he came up to me and said, 
"That boy won't mind me, sir; what shall 1 do to him?" 
" Well," said I, " yoic do not mind me sometimes, and per- 
haps the best rule is for you to do as you would like to be 
done unto. Shall I flog him?" He thought a moment — 
" No, sir," said he ; "I guess I will try him once more." As 
he learned what it was reasonable to require of them, he grew 
more and more ready to do what I required of him. One day, 
his father came to the school-room to inquire what I had 
done to his son. I was alarmed at first, but he soon relieved 
me by saying that, a few w^eeks ago, his son had given him 
much trouble by being out every evening, and getting into 
difficulty ; but of late he staid at home and studied his les- 
sons, and behaved so much better, that he had determined to 
come and ask what I had done to him. I told him what had 
taken place, and being curious to know what lessons he stud- 
ied, since I had excused him from saying any to me, I called 
the boy up, and asked what lessons he studied at home. He 
blushed, but gave no answer. "Tell me," said I, "because 
your father says you study at home, and I wish to reward 
17^ 



198 THE teachers' institute. 

you for your industry." " I study the lessons of my class," 
said he, " but father need not have told of it." " O," said I, 
" this is very honorable to you, and while you continue to do as 
well as you have done, you will find a good friend in me and 
in your father, who has come here to tell me how well you 
behave at home." That boy gave me no further trouble after- 
wards, and he trained his class better, probably, than I could 
have done, had I done nothing else. Bad as he was, one 
spark of virtue remained unextinguished, and this one instance 
of unexpected and undeserved confidence kindled it into an 
enduring flame. 

Another common objection against the use of children as 
assistants is, that their knowledge is imperfect, and of course 
their teaching must be of the same character. A judicious 
teacher would not set a child to teach what he did not know ; 
but, if a child may not teach what he does know to one who 
knows less, because his knowledge is limited, I do not see 
but all teaching must cease ; for, oftentimes, there is not more 
difference between the attainments of the teacher and those 
of his best pupils, than between those of the latter and of the 
poorest scholars. The wisest and best of us go to church, 
and to lectures, without repugnance, although we know that 
the preacher or the lecturer is only a monitor, who knows, 
perhaps, a little more than we do of the subject under consid- 
eration, but who would perhaps come to us for information on 
many other subjects. The art of teaching depends more upon 
adapting the explanation to the capacity of the learner, than 
upon the amount of knowledge accumulated by the teacher. 
Is it unreasonable, then, to suppose that the explanations of 
children may sometimes be better suited to the understanding 
of children, than those of aduhs would be ? I am not ashamed 
to own that I often called on my monitors to explain what I had 
failed to make a little scholar apprehend. When I began to 
teach, I was for a long time obliged to study in the evening 
what I was to teach the next morning ; and I believe I suc- 
ceeded better then in explaining those lessons, than I did after- 
wards when the subject had become familiar to me. What 
was I but a monitor; and what else was I ever afterwards ? 

It is also objected against Monitorial Schools, that they are 
necessarily noisy. Now, there are two kinds of noise, that of 
disorder, which is useless, and that of business, which is some- 
times unavoidable. If several classes are reciting at once, 
more noise may be made than where only one is reciting in 



THE MONITORIAL SYSTEM. 199 

the old mode ; but this is not necessarily the case, for, in small 
classes it is not necessary to speak loud, and as all are em- 
ployed, there are no idlers to make the noise that often inter- 
rupts the single recitation of common schools, and furnishes 
victims for the rod. To my ear, however, the hum of busi- 
ness is much more agreeable than the stillness of inactivity 
and idleness. If I owned a cotton factory, I should be glad 
to be rid of the noise, but I should be rather simple to stop all 
the spindles but one to procure silence. I would not tolerate 
any noise that was unaccompanied with work, but, after I had 
perfected the machinery, and oiled all the wheels, I would 
keep up the steam, and get used to the noise as busy workmen 
easily do. The sacrifice, therefore, of industry, and often of 
happiness and humanity, to the god of silence, is an idolatry, 
which, if not paid to stocks and stones, has a tendency to make 
stocks and stones of the worshippers. " You may play, if 
you will make no noise," said a teacher to her pupils. 
" Thank you, ma'am," said they; "such play would be too 
much like work." 

Finally, it is objected, that, if teaching helps a monitor, only 
a few are helped, and as the monitors are taught exclusively 
by the master, and the rest have only his occasional care, 
those who are not monitors must suffer. In schools on every 
plan, the teacher bestows more personal attention upon the 
best scholars than upon the lower classes. But, if the teacher 
bestows more time upon the monitor of the present season, the 
next year, when those who are pupils now have become moni- 
tors, they will have the same exclusive care, and the aggregate 
of personal attention will be about the same. If it be urged 
that some pupils will never be fit for monitors, then my expe- 
rience tells me that great practice under monitors is belter 
for such, than the slight attention that teachers can pay to dull 
scholars. Besides, it must be borne in mind, that the teacher 
is always active, and will give such children as much of his 
time as they would have had, if no monitors had been em- 
ployed. The mischief most to be feared is that the masters 
will use the monitors as substitutes, and not as mere assist- 
ants ; and will look on, when they should be at work. The 
great wheel that moves all the little wheels in a factory might 
as well stop to see how the others get on. 

But I shall not be satisfied with replying to objections^ 
for there are positive advantages in the Monitorial Plan, 
when properly employed, and I must briefly notice a few of 



200 THE teachers' INMITUTE. 

them. I have already hinted that one of the greatest evils 
inseparable from the common plan, is the defective classifica- 
tion. If the teacher makes many classes, he must slight them 
all; for the more classes he has, the less time he can bestow 
upon each. The teacher, therefore, of a large school, makes 
as few classes as possible, and, of course, brings together 
children whose capacities are very unequal ; and then, if he 
sets a lesson to give full employment to the brightest pupils, 
he oppresses the poorer scholars ; and how often are they 
punished for imperfect recitations, when the teacher only is to 
blame for overtasking their capacities. On the other hand, if 
the humane teacher sets the large class a short lesson, in 
mercy to the feeble intellects, he represses the afdor of the 
brighter scholars, and by keeping them only half employed 
exposes them to the temptations of idleness. 

Again, in these large classes, children are brought together 
with little or no regard to their peculiar talents. One may be 
a good reader but a poor arithmetician ; another may be a 
good arithmetician but a bad geographer ; a third may be a 
good geographer but a bad grammarian, and so on ; and few 
will be found to excel in every branch. No matter, all must 
work together, however unlike, and this defect seems to be 
inseparable from the classification of our large schools. 

Now the evils arising from imperfect classification are all 
remedied by the Monitorial Plan, for the teacher can make as 
many classes as are necessary to bring all scholars of equal 
attainments or capacity together. No class, perhaps, except 
his own, contains more than six or eight, and, if necessary, a 
single child may have a separate monitor, if she needs extra- 
ordinary care, or is unfit to go with any other in the school. 
The teacher takes whichsoever class needs him most; the 
monitors, all under his eye, take the rest, and, generally, all 
are reciting at the same time. These small classes get an 
immense amount of practice, and every child may easily be 
made to recite the whole lesson, and not merely one or two 
questions of it. I always required the whole lesson to be 
recited by every pupil. 

But the classification is difl^erent in every branch of study, 
and every child who has any talent has a chance to rise and 
improve it. It is no great stretch of credulity to believe, as I 
do, that a monitor, selected in this way for his skill in one 
branch, and required only to teach that branch, may succeed 
as well in teaching his single study to beginners, as the teacher 



THE MONITORIAL SYSTEM. 201 

will, who is required to teach many branches, who, perhaps, 
excels in none of them, and can hardly be expected to excel 
in all. 

Again ; in common schools, it is difficult for a teacher to 
keep alive in the minds of his pupils what he has taught 
them. It is necessary to drop the lower branches, or even the 
elementary part of the same branch, as the pupil advances ; 
and a revicAV of past studies, to which some good teachers 
resort, rarely goes further back than the last branch studied, 
and not only interrupts business, but generally is equivalent 
to teaching the whole matter over again. No exercise is so 
often dropped in this way as ppelling; and I have often 
known a first class, who had thrown aside the spelling- 
book, unable to spell decently. In answering fourteen ques- 
tions in grammar, the first division of the first classes in the 
Boston grammar schools, averaging about fourteen years of 
age, misspelled 924 words, and some of these the easiest in 
the language. I do not believe, however, that these pupils 
were worse than pupils elsewhere. 

Now the Monitorial Plan effectually meets this evil. By 
teaching the younger children, the more advanced are con- 
stantly reviewing their studies, not by learning merely, but 
by the surer method of teaching what they have learned to 
others. In reality, the children never drop any study till they 
drop the school, and never need to do so. If it be objected, 
that only monitors enjoy this privilege, it may be answered, 
that monitors only need it, their pupils not yet having any 
study to drop. But the fact is, the ingenious teacher will, at 
times, make monitors of all his pupils, and thus give them 
practice, if they do not need any review. I often employed 
my second class in showing beginners how to study their 
lessons ; a duty that teachers themselves are too apt to neg- 
lect, and to lay upon the parents, although it is often far 
more difficult and important than the hearing of the recita- 
tion afterwards. No child, but the very lowest, was so low 
that she could not teach something, and that something I 
always required her to teach if possible. Once, when I made 
this remark to a visiter, he pointed to a little girl, not yet four 
years old, and who had only been taught a few of the letters, 
and asked, "Can you make a monitor of her?" "To be 
sure," said I ; and knowing that she had a large rag-baby in 
her desk, I asked her if her dolly knew her A, B, C. " No, 
thir," said she. "Can you teach them to her?" said I. 



202 THE teachers' institute. 

" Yeth thir," said she. I gave her a piece of chalk, led her 
before the black-board, and told her to do as the monitor did. 
She at once chalked A upon the board, and held her doll up 
before it ; but finding it difficult to get the idea into her pupil's 
head, she adopted an expedient that, I will venture to say, not 
one adult in a thousand would have thought of, — she rubbed 
the letters into the doll's head by rubbing them out with it. 

There is a common notion that knowledge easily acquired 
is as easily lost; and, therefore, learning should be made 
somewhat difficult, that the labor of acquisition may prevent 
too rapid progress, and impress the words or the ideas more 
deeply on the mind. But this principle will apply as justly 
to the repair of roads, and prove the impolicy of a highway 
tax ; since the worse the road the more careful will be the 
driver, and the more attentive the passengers ; and the longer 
the journey is, the more pleasant will its end be, and the 
aching bones will more powerfully come to the aid of mem- 
ory. There is no royal road to knowledge which the privi- 
leged only may travel ; but there may be a rail-road, nay, 
there must be one, or all progress must cease. I am not like 
the honest Scotch schoolmaster, who, when asked why he 
did not teach his pupils a certain part of mathematics by a 
new process which shortened it amazingly, replied, " Ye 
dinna think I 'd teach the blackguards in a week, what it cost 
me a year or twa to learn ! " For my part, I had rather 
travel a road two or three times over in a comfortable way, if 
once going over it is not enough, than receive any of those 
deeper impressions of a more painful route. I consider an 
idea like a town, and am content to reach it by the shortest 
and easiest road. 

But the most crying evil in our common schools is that 
alluded to at the commencement of this lecture, — the want of 
constant employment. One class only can recite to the master 
at a time, and, of that class, but one child at a time. It is true 
that the rest are expected to attend, but they do not, and it is 
useless to deny the fact. Now, if there is idleness and inat- 
tention in the very class that is reciting to the teacher, what 
may we expect to find in the rest of the school ? What do we 
find there ? Idleness and all its fruits, from innocent sleep up 
to active mischief. It is true, that classes not reciting are 
expected to study their lessons ; and some children, no doubt, 
do this ; but the majority do no such thing. Now, just in 
proportion as the Monitorial Plan diminishes the numbei of 



THE MONITORIAL SYSTEM. 203 

pupils in a class, and increases the number of teachers, it 
diminishes the opportunities for idleness and mischief. By 
the judicious employment of monitors, and the proper selec- 
tion and change of studies, the children can be all usefully 
employed, and employed all the time. 

Again ; on the old plan, as the children of a large school 
cannot be classed so that they can work advantageously 
together, an attempt has been made to remove the evil by 
having several grades of schools, as the infant, the primary, 
the intermediate, the grammar, and the high school. This 
arrangement, no doubt, is a great improvement, and dimin- 
ishes the difficulty of classing the pupils ; but it does not re- 
move idleness, — it does not reduce the number in a class, — it 
does not produce equality of talents or attainments ; for the 
schools are classed by age generally, and classing them by 
age will do no more towards bringing equals together, than 
will classing them by the number of feet and inches that they 
measure. The Monitorial Plan renders all this separation of 
ages unnecessary ; for the charm of a school on this plan is 
the gradation of ages, — the presence of the little ones always 
having a kindly influence upon the benevolent feelings of the 
older pupils, while the example of the latter assists the 
example of the teacher, and gives to him a sort of ubiquity. 
I generally found, too, that little children, who witnessed the 
exercises of the more advanced pupils, learned so much, that, 
when promoted to a new study, they were half acquainted 
with it. In schools that are classed, the primaries see noth- 
ing of what the grammar scholars do, and these are ignorant 
of what is done in the high school. This classification of 
schools sometimes separates the older children of a family 
from the younger, when their protection is almost indispen- 
sable. The proportion of ages in a common district school is 
favorable to the use of monitors ; and, if two or three districts 
unite, so much the better ; for they may employ a hrst-rate 
teacher, who, with the aid of his pupils, will do more in the 
united school than three poor teachers could do in their sep- 
arate districts, and do it tlwee times as well ; for a good 
monitor, under a good teacher, is worth more than a poor 
teacher alone. When the schools are classed, the child who 
leaves the primary school leaves the teacher also, who has 
laid the foundation of his education, and goes to another, who 
builds upon a foundation that he did not lay, and, after a 
while, leaves the work to be completed by a third. How this 



204 THE teachers' institute. 

plan would operate in the building of a temple, any one can 
guess ; and yet the comparison of the material with the intel- 
lectual temple, shows a perfect parallel. 

I shall name but one advantage more, and this is of im- 
mense importance. Every pupil educated in a monitorial 
school becomes a teacher. This is important even in a pecu- 
niary point of view ; but it has higher claims than merely 
affording a respectable means of support. If it be said, as it 
has been, by parents, " I do not expect my child ever to 
become a teacher," it may be asked, " Do you never expect 
him or her to become a parent?" And is it of no advantage 
to a parent to be able to educate his own children, or to know 
how to superintend this all-important concern ? Many of my 
pupils, with no other preparation than they obtained from 
acting as monitors, have become teachers of excellent schools, 
without feeling at all embarrassed. Once, when the trustees 
of my school had tried several adult teachers in the needle- 
work and drawing department, which w^as conducted when I 
was not present, and had concluded to abandon the enterprise, 
from the inability of the teachers to conduct so large a school, 
I proposed that one of my monitors, then only seventeen years 
of age, should be allowed to try her skill ; and although the 
pupils were all her fellow-scholars, and some nearly as old as 
herself, she conducted the school to the entire satisfaction of 
all concerned, until she was married, four years afterwards. 

The want of competent teachers is felt and acknowledged 
throughout our land, and great efforts are making to furnish 
an adequate supply. Although I believe teaching to be a 
natural gift, as much as poetry or music, still, like them, it is 
an art that must be studied and cultivated, and one that, per- 
haps, will be hidden, unless an opportunity is afforded for its 
exercise. Acquiring knowledge is not acquiring the art of 
teaching, any more than accumulating money is the same as 
active beneficence. Not one learned man in a thousand is 
able to communicate what he knows, clearly and simply, to a 
child. Practice is necessary ; but few have this, until they 
are called on to instruct. How different is the case where 
children, as fast as they learn, are required to impart what 
they have learned to others. The truth is, that a well-con- 
ducted Monitorial School is the best normal school in the 
world ; for practice goes with precept every step of the Way. 
If our common schools were conducted, even in part, on the 
monitorial plan, those children who have any tact, any pecu- 



THE MONITORIAL SYSTEM. 205 

liar love or aptness for teaching, would soon show it ; and 
who does not see that pupils thus brought out would furnish 
the very best stock for normal schools, and the demand for 
teachers would not only be supplied, but would be supplied 
with teachers of the true birth, born and bred to their busi- 
ness ? Our normal schools have done immense good under 
every disadvantage ; but many of the pupils who have entered 
them have lacked the necessary degree of knowledge, as well 
as the true spirit of teaching ; and this must continue to be the 
case until preparatory schools, in which the Monitorial Plan 
is used, are connected with the normals ; or until the common 
schools are so generally conducted on this plan, that a full 
supply of suitable teachers can be selected from them. 

The precept of our great Teacher, that, " It is more blessed 
to give than to receive," is true in intellectual as well as in 
material things. Teaching is learning, and learning of the 
very best kind. I appeal to teachers of common, private and 
high schools, and ask, whether every faithful attempt to teach 
the children under their care does not increase and improve 
their own knowledge ? I appeal to parents, and ask, if every 
attempt to educate their own children does not also educate 
themselves? I appeal to all lecturers, preachers, and others, 
who try to instruct their fellow-men, and I ask whether teach- 
ing is not learning ? I appeal to all the young teachers in our 
Sunday schools, many of whom are but monitors, and yet 
are safely intrusted to teach those mysteries which angels 
cannot fathom, although in the district school they are not 
allowed to teach reading, spelling, and arithmetic, — I appeal 
to these young coadjutors of our divine Master, and ask them, 
if, when they are pointing out to their young pupils the path 
to heaven, they are not compelled to advance therein them- 
selves? 

We need more good teachers, and must have them. He 
who thinks otherwise, must be blind to the signs of the times ; 
to that bigotry, which hopes to thrive in the general igno- 
rance ; to that selfish pride, v/hich looks with coldness upon all 
attempts to raise the mass by the agency of common schools ; 
to that infidelity, which, half instructed, fancies itself to be 
the only true wisdom ; to that disregard of law, which blindly 
claims to be the only true liberty ; and to that restless love of 
novelty, which rejects the most solemn lessons of experience. 
Impressed with the necessity of creating a higher race of 
teachers, and of providing surer and better methods of instruc- 
18 



206 THE teachers' institute. 

tion, I have ventured to plead the cause of a system which 
has few acquaintances, and, of course, fewer friends. I have 
no private interest to subserve, for I am no longer a teacher, 
and I have made no book that is better fitted for instruction 
on this plan than on any other. I believe that the prevalent 
mode of instruction is defective in some vital points, which the 
mode I advocate seems to be eminently fitted to remedy. I 
do not conceal the fact that the system has been tried some- 
what extensively and laid aside, but the same thing once 
happened to the greatest of all improvements, or Luther was 
no reformer. I am aware that many obstacles will arise, and 
some experiments may fail, in making the change of systems 
that I propose, but the schools have less to fear from this than 
from remaining as they are. " Let well enough alone," is 
high treason in these days, when the perfection of our schools 
is to our institutions the only hope of salvation. Nor do I 
speak as a mere theorist. I have taught on this system more 
than twenty years ; I have taught large numbers of the rich 
and of the poor — the cared-for and the neglected; I have 
taught the elements and the advanced studies, and all this in 
a community boasting of its schools, and sternly opposed to 
innovation ; I know what the system can do, and I am ready 
to stake the welfare of the coming generation upon a fair 
experiment. 

Perhaps few teachers will be safe in introducing the entire 
system at once ; a wiser plan will be to employ only a few 
monitors, and these with ca,ution, until practice gives confi- 
dence, and success removes the existing prejudice. But in 
recommending this system to teachers, I ought not to conceal 
the fact that they who employ monitors must be more vigilant, 
more active, more industrious than those on the old plan ; for, 
what the teacher is, the monitors will most assuredly be. 
Remember, however, that the labor, though doubled, will be 
less fatiguing to both pupils and teacher ; for there will be a 
life in the instruction, a charm in the intercourse of teacher, 
monitor and pupil, which no labor can weary, and no ordinary 
vexations disturb. You will, for a time at least, be troubled 
by the fears of parents and the incredulity, perhaps, of com- 
mittees, who, naturally, will lack faith until you give them 
experience ; and therefore you must possess your souls in 
patience, and persevere in meekness. When told, as you 
will be, of the importance of silence in school ; speak of the 
greater importance of industry every loJiere. — If the system, is 



THE MONITORIAL SYSTEM. 207 

Stigmatized as a pauper system ; comfort yourselves with the 
reflection that your blessed religion is a religion for the poor ; 
not to keep them so, but to make them rich. — If told that 
your monitors are imperfect; acknowledge with unfeigned 
humility that you are imperfect also. — If told that your moni- 
tors do not govern wisely; acknowledge frankly, what will no 
doubt be the truth, that you have not shown them how. — If told 
that, once in a while, a monitor is partial or unfaithful ; you 
may whisper a suspicion, that, once in a while, teachers, too, 
are partial and unfaithful. — If told that the knowledge of 
your monitors is imperfect; you may hint, for the sake of argu- 
ment, that that of teachers is not always perfect. — If told that, 
in exercising their judgment, monitors sometimes err ; do not 
be so rash as to assert that teachers also sometimes err, but 
ask, if children had not better sometimes err than never exer- 
cise their judgment ? — If told that a monitorial school is more 
noisy than others ; express a quiet hope that there w^ll be less 
chance to sleep in it. — If told that children cannot, in the 
nature of things, teach children ; allow that this is strange, 
since children can often teach adults. — If your classes are too 
large ; cut them up, in the full belief that, with them, as with 
the polypus, the more pieces the more vitality. — If told that 
one hour under a teacher is better than ten under a monitor ; 
be sure to ask who that teacher is. — If told that it is better to 
recite one or two questions to a master than the whole lesson 
to a monitor; ask, inquiringly, which are the healthiest 
children, those who get a few mouthfuls of dainty food, or 
those who get as much as they can eat of plain but wholesome 
fare. — If told that monitors must spend a portion of their 
time in teaching what they know already ; you may insinuate 
that teachers spend all theirs in the same manner. — If told 
that the monitorial plan mixes old and young together ; hint 
that, in the great school of the world, the Almighty does the 
very same thing. — Finally, if told that the use of monitors is 
an innovation unknown to our fathers ; after doubting the fact, 
you must, in justice to those farsighted men, say, that the very 
establishment of public free schools by them was also an inno- 
vation, a most glorious innovation, which their children are 
called upon to cherish and perfect, without prejudice and with- 
out fear. 



208 THE teachers' institute. 



THE USE OF MONITORS. 

I DO not know that I need to say any more on this suhject, 
for, besides the lecture, I have, in this volume, frequently 
alkided to the use of pupils as assistants to the teacher. It 
has given me pleasure to hear that many of the teachers who 
attended the Institutes last autumn, have made successful use 
of monitors since, and have never been so well satisfied that 
they did their duty towards their employers. I have not heard 
that any one, parent or committee-man, has objected to the 
improvement; and, if the teachers are judicious, I presume 
they will not be interfered with, and checked in their progress 
towards a thorough reform. From every quarter I hear indi- 
cations of a better feeling toward this " only invention of the 
nineteenth century," and the very natural hostility of teachers 
and schools who have no enterprise, and whom the world 
has gone by, cannot prevent the general adoption of a plan, 
which gives us more and better instruction at half the expense, 
and which is the only remedy for most of the evils under 
which our schools have groaned for at least a century, viz.. 
want of teachers, want of practice, want of employment, want 
of discipline, want of interest, want of almost every thing. 

Just twenty years ago, at the request of William Russell, 
that most excellent of men and most judicious of teachers, I 
prepared some directions for the introduction of the system 
of mutual instruction into the common schools of Massa- 
chusetts, and he published them in a small manual. The 
book is not now to be found, and I may be excused for mak- 
ing a few extracts from it touching the arrangement of a 
school-room. 

" Mutual instruction was first introduced to save the expense of 
teachers in large schools ; but experience has discovered in it a far 
greater benefit, which is, the more thorough and practical education 
acquired by those children who are required to tmch as well as learn ; 
and, in a well ordered school on the monitorial plan, every child, 
before he leaves the school, is employed as a teacher. In schools, 
therefore, of only twenty or thirty scholars, although the master 
may feel perfectly competent to teach them all personally, still it is 
desirable that they should learn the use of his instructions by trans- 
mitting them to the younger scholars. 

" It is to be regretted that, in our common school-rooms, so little 
regard has been paid to the convenience of the master and pupils. 



THE USE OF MONITORS. 209 

The bench of one desk is often fastened to the front of the next desk, 
so as to allow no passage behind the scholar, and to oblige him to 
disturb the whole row when he wishes to leave his seat. This 
arrangement also effectually prevents the master from passing 
between the desks to examine the books of the writers. Another 
fault of construction in our school-rooms is, that the forms or desks 
do not all face the master's desk. This prevents his having a com- 
manding view of the whole, and the scholars' having a convenient 
view of him, and what he wishes to show them. Besides, it enables 
the children to look at each other, — a serious evil, were one sex only 
present, but much more serious, when, as in most of our country 
schools, both sexes are in the same room, and placed opposite to 
each other. These are the two greatest defects in the construction 
of our school-rooms, and it is desirable that they should be remedied 
before the new system is introduced ; but let it be understood, that 
the new system may be tried in a room of any construction, although 
its advantages cannot be so fully appreciated as when the room is 
more conveniently arranged. 

" The annexed diagram will give some idea of the most simple and 
convenient form of a school-room ; and school committees who are 
about to erect new schoolhouses, may be assured that the arrange- 
ment we propose will be found as convenient for the old system of 
instruction, as for the new, besides the economy of room, which will 
be evident. The size of the room is about 30 by 24 feet, and will 
accommodate 60 children with ease, but, the larger the room the 
better for the pupils, the teacher, the discipline, the neatness, and 
other important points of a good school. Black-boards should 
surround the room, or at least be behind every reciting station, and 
behind the master's desk, which latter should be ruled as I have 
directed under the head of Writing. 

" The diagram represents the interior of a school-room only. An 
anteroom, or wide entrance, should be built at the end where the 
door is, and should be well lighted. If divided in the centre, so that 
the girls may have a separate room for their garments, so much the 
better ; and in this case, a door may be cut at A. If the sexes have 
different yards, so that they can take recess apart, but at the same 
time, some minutes will be saved, and the teacher will not be obliged 
to stay in the room to look after those who are not taking recess. It 
will not cost much to dig a small cellar under the school-room, that 
the wood may not be covered with snow or look unneat in winter ; 
and, if a small furnace is placed there, by which fresh-heated air may 
be sent into the room, many a life will be saved. The school-room 
should not be less than 12 feet high, and should be ventilated at the 
top and bottom. 

18^ 



210 



THE teachers' institute. 



Window. 



Window. 



"" 8 "" 
o ^^ o 





^ 



o ' o 





O 

0^0 
O o 



i I 

========== 4 

r 1 ■? 



. 5> 

1 I ^ 

Passage between bench and desk. -^ 



Desks 20 inches to each pupil. 



Stove. 



Door. I 



Master's 
Desk. 



^ 



o 
^ [ 



o 

^ [ 

o 



o 

CO [ 



o 
c. [ 

o 





O 1 o 

o 



24 feet in width. 



" The semicircles, as they are called, are not perfectly so, for it is 
found that the shape here given takes up less room and is more con- 
venient for the class. These are the reciting stations, in the centre 
of which is a seat for the monitor. This seat may be a permanent 
one, a desk, or a chair ; or the monitor may be required to stand, 
which is the preferable mode. 

" There should not be less than eighteen inches between the ends 
of the semicircles, so that children standing at each may not touch 
one another. 

" From the wall to the front of the semicircles may be about four 
feet ; and then there must be room between the front of the semi- 
circles and the desks, to allow of a person's passing down the aisle, 
while the children are standing at the stations. One foot will be 
sufficient, thus making the aisle five feet vvade. 

" The master's desk had better be semicircular, that classes may 



THE USE OF MONITORS. 211 

occasionally form arc fund it, and recite to him. It should be elevated 
about eighteen inches above the floor, and have two circular steps, 
ten inches wide, around it. Its front should be live feet from the 
wall. 

" The narrow aisle on the left side of the school will be found con- 
"5'enient, but may be dispensed with if the other aisle is a wide one. 

'• The nearest form should be about eight feet from the master's 
desk. The seats for the scholars may be separate stools, nailed to 
the floor, or single benches strongly made and fastened.* The desk 
should have a shelf under it, to hold the slate and books of the 
children. 

"Between the seats and the front of the next row, should be a 
passage way of fifteen inches width, that master and monitors may 
pass freely behind the scholars. 

" The reading stations, 6, 7 and 8, behind the desks, may be dis- 
pensed with, if there are enough elsewhere, and, perhaps, one or 
two may be made by the door. These stations should be marked by 
grooves in the floor, cut or scratched. Paint is sometimes used, but 
is soon effaced. 

" The desks nearest the master's should be somewhat lower than 
the others, to suit the smallest children. In arranging the relative 
height of the seats and desks or forms, the best plan is to set a child 
upon the seat, and place the form just high enough for him to write 
and heep his elboiv at his side, and let it slope just so that a slate will 
not slide off from it. Always recollect that both desk and seat had 
better be too low than too high. 

" Such is the arrangement we should propose, and a judicious 
teacher will come as near to it as circumstances will allow. If he 
can get more room, so much the better. He may adopt the whole, 
or a part, or none ; for it is possible to do without reading stations ; 
the monitor sitting- at the end of a bench, and the children standing 
in a semicircle around him. It is better, however, for the classes to 
read towards the wall than towards the centre of the room, for less 
noise is made, and there is less to distract the attention. 

" In regard to the system of Mutual Instruction, it should be under- 
stood that there are various modifications of it, caused by a greater 
or less deviation from the old method of saying things by rote, with- 
out exercising the judgment or proving the knowledge of the pupil 
by requiring him to apply it to some practical purpose. In some 
schools on the new plan, monitors are used, but lessons are recited 
in the old way, without explanation. In others, the children are 
allowed to ask an explanation of the monitor ; and the monitor is 
required to give it. We mention this circumstance because many 
gaod old-fashioned ears are shocked with the noise necessarily made 

*JosEPH W. Ingraham, Esa., of Boston, lias invented an excellent chair 
for Primary Schools. It is easy, strong and cheap, and is manufactured by 
William G. Shattuck, No. 80, Commercial Street, Boston. Mr. S. alsc 
manufactures a Granrunar School chair, having the same excellent qualities. 
Specimens can be examined at the Publisher's Book-store, as well as at the 
manufactory. 



212 THE teachers' institute. 

in a school of the exvlanatory kind, and may judge of the compara- 
tive merit of schools by their comparative silence and orderly inaction. 
No instructor can teach a class Vv^ithout frequently speaking to them ; 
and the same indulgence should be allowed to monitors ; the only 
point is, to check unnecessary conversation. It is easy to keep a 
silent and still school ; but the free interchange of ideas amongst the 
pupils, when conducted in an orderly manner, is productive of much 
good, and should be encouraged. Noise is only injurious when it 
obstructs business ; and in monitorial schools, icell-regulaied noise is 
rather an indication of industry than of disorder. It should be recol- 
lected also that those who make a noise are not those most offended 
by it. The tin kettle discourses excellent music to the child who 
beats it ; the cotton factory stuns all but the workmen. 

" We shall conclude with one word of advice to school-committees. 
As the success of any system depends upon an impartial exercise of 
it, and as the system proposed in this manual requires more exercise 
of the judgment of children than any other, it must be your endeavor 
to second the exertions of the master. Encourage him to deal 
impartially with all. Submit your own children entirely to his guid- 
ance ; allow them no distinction to which their merit does not entitle 
them. The aristocracy of cities is proverbial ; but you must have 
seen that few country schools are free from family influence. Frown 
upon all such distinctions ; and recollect that undeserved promotion will 
not excite your own children to exertion, but will discourage those 
who have nothing beside their own exertions to depend upon, and 
who, keenly feeling their wrongs, will entertain but a poor opinion of 
3''our justice. Be generous towards the teachers you employ. Be 
careful to select a man of mild temper and pure morals ; and when 
you have found such a one, let not the whole term of his service be 
embittered by the reflection that his services are undervalued. How 
can you expect a man to devote himself to the school under such 
circumstances? Depend upon it he will give yoifonly the money's 
worth of his time and exertions ; and this is all you can reasonably 
expect. We mention the subject of salaries, because Ave believe 
they are generally too low to induce a gentleman of talents to under- 
take the charge of a village school, and because to this circumstance, 
more than to any other, (if we except the short term for which a 
male teacher is employed,) maybe attributed the low standard of 
education in our common schools. If you cannot afford any additional 
expense, let a small piece of ground be cultivated annually by the 
boys for the benefit of the school ; or let the clergyman and select- 
men see that those who have nothing to spare to educate their chil- 
dren, spare nothing for the indulgence of some useless or pernicious 
habit." 

The following letter, from one of the most intelligent and 
experienced female teachers of Barnstable county, may serve 
to show what evils exist, and may furnish the text for a fev^r 
remarks on classification. 



THE USE OF BIONITORS. 213 

B , Nov. 19, 1846. 

Mr. Fowle, 

Dear Sir, 

In less than two weeks from this time, 
I shall, probably, find myself surrounded by some fifty 
or sixty pupils of all ages, and of various attainments. In 
view of this responsibility, and wishing to secure the greatest 
amount of good to every member of my school, I often ask 
myself, Jiow shall I classify my school ? During my past teach- 
ing, I have tried, by way of experiment, several modes of 
classification, but have never been fully satisfied with any of 
them. The question comes up renewedly, since the Institute 
in our county, and I have said to myself, I wish I could see 
Mr. F., and avail myself of his suggestions. 

You are aware, sir, of the increased difficulties to be sur- 
mounted in schools like ours, compared with those of your 
city, and that a teacher's plans must be graduated, not according 
to his views of what a school should be, or to what it may 
become at some future time, but according to what it is now. 
I must descend to a level with the present system of school 
discipline and classification, bad as it is, as a starting point, 
and endeavor to raise the whole e7i masse to a higher degree 
of excellence. # ^ ^ # 

I should like to know, in particular, if some general method 
of classification might not be adopted, by which the whole 
school, or the greater part of it, may be exercised at once. 
For instance, might not an hour be given to arithmetic, 
exclusively ; another to grammar ; a third to reading ; a 
fourth to spelling, and so on. The idea to me is a new one, 
but it strikes me that some arrangement of this kind might be 
made, that would be much better than any I have adopted 
heretofore ; and which, by directing the attention of the whole 
to the same subject, v/ould diminish idleness. Such a course 
would require a thorough acquaintance with the subjects 
taught, on the part of the teacher, to enable him to supply the 
place of textbooks to his pupils ; and would have a tendency 
to make a teacher what he should always aim to be, " A 
workman that needeth not to be ashamed, thoroughly furnished 
unto every good work." 

Wishing you success in all your efforts to elevate the con- 
dition of our public schools, I am, sir, yours, &c. &c. 

This enterprisinof teaclier, if allowed to follow the bent of 
her mind, would, I think, soon settle down upon the Monito- 



214 THE teachers' institute. 

rial System ; for this, and nothing else, will enable her to carry 
out the rational classification of which she has, through suf- 
fering, obtained a glimpse. Let me say, then, in a few words, 
how I should manage such a school, if called on to teach it, 
and allowed to do as I thought best. 

On the day appointed for opening the school, I should re- 
quire every child who intended to be a pupil, to bring his last 
writing-book, which I should ask permission to keep till the 
end of the term. I should ask the children to stand in alpha- 
betical order, and then I should take a list of the names. 
Having ruled several columns at the right hand of the list, I 
should begin to examine the pupils in the several branches, 
recording the result opposite each name, as I advanced. Let 
all stand in a line, according to age or size, and if any do not 
know their letters, separate them into the first class, send them 
to a black-board, and let a large pupil teach them in the method 
I have described under the head of Reading. As these little 
ones are well employed, they will not trouble me while class- 
ing the rest. 

I now take a reading-book, say my Primary Reader, or 
Swan's Second Part, and, as each of the remaining pupils 
reads in turn, I mark against his name 1, 2, 3, or 4, as he 
reads well or ill, the best readers having the highest numbers. 
This trial will probably enable me to pick out such as can 
hardly read the lowest class-books, and these I can send away 
to read under one who has read better than the rest. I let 
the class read again, in a higher book, say Swan's Grammar 
School Reader, marking the quality of their reading as before 
and I keep them reading, until I have separated them into 
classes of 6, 8 or 10, to my satisfaction. Suppose that there 
are 60 pupils, of whom 6 are in the alphabet, 8 in Swan's First 
Book, 8 in the Primary Reader, 6 in Swan's Third Part, 8 
in Swan's Grammar School Reader, 10 in the same book, and 
14 in the District School Reader. From this highest class, I 
should select my monitors of reading. I could detach six of 
them to hear the other classes read, while I heard the rest of 
the highest class, say 15 or 20 minutes. Then I could detach 
six of those who had read to me, to take the place of the 
monitors, and let them have a chance to read to me. If I am 
faithful to my highest class, it will only be necessary for me 
occasionally to take the other classes, and this I can easily do 
by giving my class some useful occupation at their seats, while 
I take the fifth or any lower class. Every book should be 
read through in course, that every one may know the place ; 



THE USE OF MONITORS. 215 

bat, on stormy days, when many are absent, the monitor may 
allow the class to choose pieces, as a sort of reward for punc- 
tual attendance. I always made it a point to allow some 
privilege on such days, and not unfrequently allowed any two 
or three to select dialogues, and read them before the whole 
school. Indeed, I would often take part in a dialogue myself, 
and then the pupils were sure to be more attentive to do their 
best. The whole school would catch the spirit, and, when 
alone, would practise, and improve themselves. 

Such was the arrangement in the school I taught so many 
years. All but the highest class were all engaged in the same 
branch at the same time, and such an arrangement seems to 
meet the idea of the writer of the letter ; but it would be so 
completely monitorial, that the teacher might be forbidden to 
employ it, by parents who would not believe, until they had 
seen, as I have, that little children so taught by monitors will 
learn faster than when taught exclusively by the master, — the 
great amount of practice more than making up for the differ- 
ence of quality. It will be necessary, therefore, to modify the 
system ; and it may be done in this manner. 

I may hear the first class read, and let the rest be employed 
in drawing the map of the geography lesson ; or in writing the 
spelling lesson ; or in any thing that is better than committing 
books to memory. But, as soon as any one gives a sign that 
his lesson is learned, let him be sent out to read, or cipher, or 
write, or draw ; or, if he is fit to teach, let him keep others out 
of idleness by teaching them. As soon as the highest class 
have read, let the second come up to the teacher, and so on, 
till all have read to him. If my books are used, there will be 
nothing to commit to memory, and the books contain direc- 
tions for their use, so that the teacher will seldom be troubled 
by questions as to how the monitors or children must proceed. 

The teacher must recollect that, to keep the pupils who are 
not reciting to him employed, he has the writing of copies on 
the black-board over his desk ; the writing of spelling lessons 
from dictation on the ruled slates ; the drawing of maps relat- 
ing to the lesson in geography on slate, black-board or paper ; 
ciphering on the slate or on the black-board, with or without 
speaking ; orthographical exercises from the Companion, a 
never-failing source of employment ; the writing of sentences 
from dictation, or set grammatical exercises : and, if he has 
one or two good monitors to inspect or direct, while he is busy 
with a class, there will be no noise or trouble, at least, not half 
so much as if the children are left idle. 



216 



THE TEACHERS INSTITUTE. 



But I have only examined the children in one branch ; it 
must be done in all the other branches, for a thorough exam- 
ination is an indispensable step at the commencement of a 
school. Select 50 words or more from the spelling-book, 
and let each child spell them all separately, and without hear- 
ing each other, or knowing what the words are. As it will 
take too long for the teacher to hear all, he must hear a few 
of the best first, and let these copy the words, and help him 
hear the others. After he has shown them how to pronounce, 
they will put out the words as fairly as he does. As fast as 
one has spelled, let tlie number he has missed be put against 
his name. Try even the smallest, for those who miss every 
word should be classed together. The eight, or ten, or twenty, 
who spell next best, may go together in a class, according to 
the number of classes needed. It is unimportant whether the 
same readers are in the same spelling class or not. 

In Arithmetic, let all stand up and first write the figures. 
Those who can not do this, form the lowest class. Give a 
short single column in addition to those who can make figures, 
and if any can not add this, let them form a second class. 
Try the rest in a long column, or in numeration, and as soon 
as any fail, stop them for another class. Go on with subtrac- 
ion, multiplication, simple and then long; division, simple and 
ong, and so on, until you find the limit of every scholar's 
knowledge, and have classed him accordingly, recording his 
doings on the list, writing the name of the rule over the col- 
umn, and making -\- if he understood it, and — if he did not. 
Let the following represent the list after the trial. 



Mult.g S. Div. 




L. Div. 



im 



THE USE OF MONITORS. 217 

The result will be that 

B, E, I, form the 1st class, and make figures. 

A, D, H, J, O, R, form the 2d, or subtraction class. 

C, F, K, M, Q, S, the 3d, or simple division class. 
L, N, P, T, the 4th, or long division class. 

G, U, V, must be tried in more advanced rules. 

This list should be preserved, not only to show what the 
children knew at the beginning, but what progress they made 
during the term. I think this method better than written 
questions in the elementary rules. Three sums should be 
given in each rule, and if two are done correctly, the child 
may be passed to the next rule, but not otherwise. In my 
school, at the beginning of every term, every pupil, whatever 
had been her standing in arithmetic, was examined in this 
way ; for the practice was useful, and it was important that I 
should know their comparative skill. 

In Mental Arithmetic, I took a similar list of names, put out 
six fair questions in every Part of the Child's Arithmetic, and 
recorded the answers as before. These answers were given 
m the quiet method before described, only, instead of num- 
bering in order, as fast as correct answers were given, those 
right were all marked -\-, and those wrong, — . If any chil- 
dren answered readily in the Child's Arithmetic, I gave them 
three fair questions in every section of Colburn's First Les- 
sons, which I have reason to believe is still ^rst in more 
senses than one. In this way, I easily ascertained which 
pupils could work together, and which I could use upon occa- 
sion for monitors. 

In Geography, if you use the Common School Geography, 
select five questions on each map, and write them on a black- 
board, requiring each jflipil to write answers on paper while 
you are looking at them. Number your questions on the 
board, that they may save time by placing the number only 
before their answers. If a scholar, who has advanced far, 
misses in the beginning of a book, it may not always be pru- 
dent or necessary to send him back to a lower class, but he 
should be required to review that map in extra lessons, under 
a faithful monitor, if the teacher has not time to attend to him. 
Make a record of the answers of each pupil, as before. 

In Grammar, select fifteen or twenty questions, write them 
on the black-board, and require written answers. Record these 
answers. 

Then count the errors made by the pupils in writing their 
19 



218 THE teachers' institute. 

answers, and record these under the heads of Grammar, 
Spelling Punctuation and Capitals. 

Select ten or twenty words to be parsed, and require each, 
unheard by the rest, to parse every one. If this takes too 
much time, you can teach the best who have parsed how to 
help you hear the rest. 

li you have The Companion to Spelling-Books, select a 
good lesson or two, and let every scholar write it from your 
copy on the black-board, if they have not the book ; or from 
dictation, which is better, because then they must attend to 
the orthography of every word. 

Finally, give them a subject, and require all who can to 
write upon it what they can in 15 minutes or half an hour. 
This trial, more than any other, showed how unused many of 
the young teachers at the Institutes were to expressing their 
thoughts on paper. In such cases, the record may be made by 
figures 1, 2, 3, &c., the highest numbers denoting the best 
exercises. 

When his scholars are thus classed in every branch, and he 
knows which his best pupils are, the good teacher can always 
find employment for all ; and, whether it is his general rule 
or not, he can occasionally set all at work on one branch at 
the same time. For instance, to give variety to the exercises, 
he could order the five classes described on page 217, to form 
around the black-boards, or to take their slates, if black-boards 
unfortunately are scarce. Let him go to the first class, and 
make the nine figures and zero, requiring each pupil to do the 
same before he comes to them again. Let him then proceed 
to the 2d class, and set them a sum in Subtraction, to be 
done before he returns ; and to secure order and attention, let 
him place G, of the 5th class, over them as monitor. Then, 
going to the 3d class, let him give them a sum in Simple 
Division, and set U over them as monitor. Next, let him 
give a sum in Long Division to the 4th class, and set V ovei 
them as monitor. By this time the first class will have writ- 
ten their figures, and he must examine them, and order a 
new copy. Then, proceeding to class 2, he examines their 
work, hears the remarks of the monitor, if he has any to 
make, sets a new sum in Subtraction, and goes to class 3. He 
does the same by 3 and 4, and keeps going the rounds as long 
as he thinks proper. An immense deal of work may be done 
in this way, especially if the monitor is active, and sets a new 
sum for the class, if the master does not come in time to do it, 



THE USE OF BIONITOKS. 219 

Of course, there will be some friction when the wheels first 
move, but every day it will be diminished, and the activity of 
teacher and pupils will make the hours pass pleasantly, use- 
fully, imperceptibly. 

How different this from my experience at school. The 
rule then was, that any boy who came to school early enough 
to make the fires, or who staid after school long enough to 
sweep the school-room, should be allowed to go home fifteen 
minutes before the rest. So irksome were school hours, 
that we used to contend for the privilege of working an hour, 
to have fifteen minutes cut off from the last hour of school- 
time. When I was a teacher, I was obliged to impose a 
heavy penalty against tarrying after school ; for the tendency 
to unpunctuality was at the end, and not, as usual, at the 
commencement of the school ; in going home, and not in com- 
ing to school. 

I hope I have made it sufficiently clear that it is not my 
wish to spare the master. He must work as hard as the 
hardest ; but, in addition to this, he can be sure that the chil- 
dren are all employed when not reciting to him. By the aid 
of monitors, he can give the pupils ten times the practice they 
can ever get otherwise, and give them as much personal 
attention as he would have done on the old system. 

For the encouragement of those teachers who feel the 
insufficiency of the prevalent system, and yet are afraid to 
try the gradual use of monitors, I will add that, during the 
past year, and especially during the past winter, more than a 
hundred teachers, male and female, who had the care of large 
schools, have used monitors, with all the good results that I 
have promised. I have many letters and other communica- 
tions from them; and even since I copied the letter from 
Barnstable county, on page 213, I have received another from 
the same teacher, which says, " I received your letter of 
November 11, and am much obliged to you. It is just what 
I needed. Perhaps I owe an apology for writing to you, but, 
in the prospect of having a large school, one that has been 
noted for insubordination, having been repeatedly broken up 
heretofore, and in which a female teacher has never before 
been employed during the winter term, you will excuse me, 
sir, for wishing to avail myself of all the assistance I can 
obtain. It is now three weeks since I entered upon my du- 
ties, and my success has been beyond my expectation thus far." 

A pleasing incident occurred at the Bridgewater Institute, 



220 THE teachers' INSTITUTEw 

in November, 1845. After I had delivered the preceding- lec- 
ture on the Monitorial System, many of the young teachers 
asked why I could not show them a specimen of a school on 
that system. The superintendent, who was the principal of 
the Normal School, seconded the application; and although 
entirely unprepared for such an experiment, in about five 
minutes, I turned the whole Institute, consisting of more 
than a hundred teachers, half of them normalites, into a 
Monitorial School, and set the whole at work, in about 12 
or 15 classes, under monitors. We first tried arithmetic, and 
then spelling-, orally, and by writing ; and the perfect readi- 
ness of the teachers to submit to whatever arrangements I 
proposed, showed that they possessed one great accomplish- 
ment of a true teacher, the docility of pupils. Since that, I 
have been told by the able assistant of the principal, who w^as 
also present at the experiment, they have regularly employed 
some of the pupils in the Normal School, as monitors, and 
have found great benefit from it. I know that many members 
of the Institute went forth, and, from that moment, used the 
system to good advantage. 

At Harwich, in November, 1846, a County Convention of 
teachers and friends of education met during the session of 
the Institute, and while it was under my care. The Con- 
vention repeatedly honored the Institute by attending its 
meetings, and patiently witnessing its exercises for nearly two 
whole days and evenings. I delivered no lecture on the sys- 
tem under consideration, and only incidentally showed, after 
a lesson or two in the common method, how the power and 
usefuln'ess of the teacher could be increased, by the occasional 
use of monitors. To my surprise, before the Convention ad- 
journed, they unanimously pa:ssed a resolve recommending to 
the teachers of the county the use of monitors. Among 
the members present, were two members of the Board of 
Education — several clergymen, distinguished for their tal- 
ents and exertions in favor of general education, three of 
whom gave most excellent lectures on important points of 
instruction — several principals of flourishing academies — 
and several intelligent physicians. I know not who ofl^ered 
the vote, for I was not aware of the intention ; it was a free- 
will offering to truth, and intended, no doubt, to encourage me 
in my honest endeavors to improve the common schools. 
Every one of nine other Institutes that I attended and 



THE USE OF MONITORS. 221 

taught, passed unanimous votes of thanks, without the least 
reservation in regard to monitorial instruction. 

There is no lack of authority, therefore, nor of encourage- 
ment, for the use of assistants selected from the pupils ; and, 
if the teacher is judicious in the selection and management of 
his assistants, there is no reason to fear that the committee or 
the parents will interpose any obstacle. One thing is certain; 
there must either be more adult teachers in our schools, or the 
pupils must be employed as I propose. Every new principle 
and every new rule should be explained by the teacher, but 
after this is done to one class, and the teacher is called to 
another, there is nothing to prevent the former class from 
practising, under one or more monitors, upon the principle just 
explained. This want of practice in every department of a 
common school education was, perhaps, the most striking 
deficiency of the teachers at the several Institutes; and several 
of the best of those teachers have thanked me for the hint 
which has enabled them not only to double the amount of 
labor actually done by their pupils, but also to double the 
amount done under the teacher himself, because of the greater 
celerity with which many operations are performed, in con- 
sequence of the practice acquired under monitors. 

The limits of my book will not allow me to go further into 
the subject, and I must leave it to the good sense of teachers 
and school-committees, advising the latter to dismiss a teacher 
the moment he relaxes his own exertions, and throws upon 
his monitors any duty that he can perform himself. 
19=^ 



222 



NEATNESS. 

I SHOULD not feel that I had done justice to the cause, if I 
omitted to say a few words on the subject of neatness. Per- 
haps in no one particular can a teacher be more useful to his 
pupils, than by inculcating a habit of neatness; and in no 
one thing, perhaps, will the importance of his own example 
be so distinctly felt. The superiority of female teachers in 
this respect is, perhaps, one of the strongest reasons for the 
growing preference which is given to them. At every Insti- 
tute, I saw young gentlemen, who, in manners and personal 
appearance, were all that could be wished ; but I saw, also, 
many who, in these respects, were far better fitted to be warn- 
ings, than models for the imitation of youth. 

If any one will think for a moment with what awe he 
looked up to the example of his teacher, he will have some 
idea of the influence which he may exert over his youthful 
charge. I do not wish the young teacher to expend all he 
earns in dress, for no one who knows me will suspect me of 
estimating men by the skill of their tailors; but I do wish 
to see every teacher careful in regard to his external appear- 
ance. 

His clothes may always be neat and whole, however coarse. 
His boots may always be cleaned. His beard may be always 
kept invisible. His hair may always be neatly combed, his 
teeth always perfectly white, his finger-nails cut, his hat and 
clothes brushed, and his hands, eyes, nose and ears, always 
perfectly clean. Frequent ablutions of his whole person, as 
well as of his face and hands, are indispensable. He must 
have a care to his breath, that it be not offensive to those 
whom he is obliged to face so often. He must never be seen 
to spit, if he can possibly help it, and at any rate he must 
never spit upon the floor, or any where else where any eye 
can be offended. Above all, he must never be guilty of the 
abominable practice of blowing his nose with his fingers, even 
if he wipes them, and it, afterwards, on a handkerchief. How 
many who pretend to be gentlemen indulge in this beastly 
habit, even iji the presence of ladies ! I do not hesitate to 



NEATNESS. 223 

say, that, if I were on a school-committee, no man who used 
tobacco in any form, who spit on the floor, or was guilty of 
that other enormity, which I dare not name again, should ever 
have my vote, if he applied for a school, and would teach for 
nothing. 

The teacher's desk, too, should always be in order, his 
books arranged, his papers filed, and just what he requires of 
his pupils. In his positions, whether sitting or standing, he 
should be decent, if he can not always be graceful. I have 
seen a fat teacher leaning backward on the hinder legs of his 
chair, with his feet not only up as high as his head, but up 
against the front of a form occupied by female pupils. I 
speak plainly, because I wish by plainness of speech more 
distinctly to show the offences that I would prevent. 

In purity of language, also, the teacher must be free from 
every taint. Not only no indelicate word or allusion must 
ever escape from his lips, but he must avoid every expression 
that approaches to vulgarity. He should freely converse with 
his pupils, and the more he does so the better, if his words 
are fitly spoken ; but nothing will so completely destroy his 
influence as an oath, or an indecent word. If any man is 
bound to set a double watch over his mouth, it is the teacher, 
and he can not too resolutely say, 

" I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue ; 
I will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the" innocent " are be- 
fore me." 

If the teacher is thus mindful of himself, he may with pro- 
priety require his pupils to be neat and orderly, to at least the 
same degree. 

Every schoolhouse should be furnished with a wash-stand, 
basin, towel, and plenty of soap and water ; and the teacher 
should see that every child's hands and face are clean. I 
know it will be said that children will slop the water, and 
waste the soap, and dirt the towels ; but I know, by expe- 
rience, that if the teacher looks after these things, the children 
virill soon use them well, nay, will seldom need to use them at 
all. When I saw how many of the children of my first school 
were neglected at home, I procured a tin basin and dipper, 
and a few coarse towels, for the boys and for the girls, and I 
placed at the doors a large boy and a large girl, whose duty 
it was to see that all faces and hands were clean, before the 
pupils came into the school-room. The inspector's office was 
no sinecure for two or three v^-^eeks ; but, after that, we had 



224 THE teachers' institute. 

no trouble. Near the wash-stand was a comb also, and all 
unkempt heads were introduced to this by the monitors of 
neatness, as the inspectors were called ; and, as they some- 
times plied the comb for the pupils, when it required unusual 
vigor to clear a snarl, it was not long before the children 
found it for their comfort to use a comb before coming to 
school. While on this subject, it may be well to mention, 
that the reason why very neat parents send their children to 
select or private schools, is more frequently the fear of con- 
tact with uncared-for children, than from any aristocratic feel- 
ing. The teacher must not shrink from recommending the 
fine-tooth comb occasionally, if he wishes to keep children 
of neat mothers in his school ; and until these children can 
be brought into our public schools, and educated there, these 
schools will only do half the good of which they are capable. 

Another point to which the attention of the teacher must be 
turned, is the clothing of the pupils. This should be tidy and 
clean ; and the teacher can make it so, by occasional remarks 
which will not offend, and which need not even be personal. 
Sixty or eighty of the pupils of my first school were children 
of Irish immigrants, neglected in almost every respect, and 
probably harder subjects than usually enter our district 
schools ; but even these were civilized in a few weeks, and, 
let me add, that my monitors did more to effect the reform 
than I did. If a boy was accustomed to come with hair 
uncombed, or with ragged trousers, the monitor would say 
kindly, " Johnny, can't you ask mammy to sleek your hair 
before you leave home ? Can't you ask her to patch your 
knee, when she finds time?" &c. I never knew any one to 
take offence, but, on the contrary, the hint was almost sure to 
be effectual. 

But teachers are not sufficiently careful in regard to the 
hats, bonnets, and outer garments that are taken off on enter- 
ing school. A place must be provided for these, and every 
child should know his place. There is a kind of double iron 
hook, having a knob on which to hang a cloak, and another 
knob above for the hat or bonnet. These hooks do not cost 
much, and every child should have one. My custom was to 
number both the children and the hooks ; and the monitors of 
neatness saw that every garment was put upon the right hook 
before the child was allowed to take his seat. Most schools 
have a few hooks or nails, but frequently I have seen half the 
garments thrown into a corner on the floor ; and, what is 



NEATNESS. 225 

worse, I have seen them trampled upon in the passage-v/ays, 
Neat parents will not put up with such conduct, and they 
either dress their children in clothes that can not be injured, 
or withdraw them from the school. I made it an offence for 
a child to pass a garment that had fallen down, and treading 
on one was accounted a serious misdemeanor. The monitors 
of neatness having a list of names and numbers, and know- 
ing most of the garments, prevented any injury to them, by a 
strict supervision. 

There is not room in some schoolhouses for any arrange- 
ment of this sort, but I believe the teacher can often get 
abundance of room, if he will only show how much it is 
needed. The mischief is, that teachers pay too little atten- 
tion to the virtue under consideration; and the committees, 
of course, seldom are sensible of the evil habits that are 
generated by his inattention. After I purchased towels for 
my poor scholars, the pupils would take them home when 
necessary, and wash them. Every little while the tin basin 
would be made to shine. A mat should be placed at every 
door, not only to keep the dirt out of the school-room, but to 
teach the children a habit of cleaning their feet before enter- 
ing a house. No school-door should lack a scraper, also. I 
believe that any teacher who should make a schedule of such 
articles, and ask the children to get up what is called a Bee, 
at the schoolhouse, would generally get all he wished. At 
any rate, he should make some effort to save himself from the 
responsibility of helping to rear a generation of slovens and 
slatterns, cursed with chronic hydrophobia, and its kindred 
vices. 

Every teacher should make it against the rules of the 
school to throw any thing on the floor, or to spit upon it. 
Every thing, whether nutshells, paper, leaves of flowers, or 
any thing similar, found upon the floor, should be picked up 
by the offender ; and, if he can not be found, by the nearest 
neighbor. Monitors of neatness were allowed to look into 
the desks to see that all was in order there, but no other pupil 
could take this liberty without permission of the owner. 

Every exercise that the pupils wrote was obliged to be 
filed and endorsed neatly, and for this they were as much re- 
warded as for writing the exercise at first. That the files 
might appear very neat, the pupils were instructed to do their 
maps, or other work, on paper of uniform size, and then to 
fold them exactly alike, write upon the end of each, in a uni- 



226 THE TEACIffiRS' INSTITUTE. 

form manner, what it was, and then tie the bundles with a 
neat string, — a piece of red tape usually. The effect of these 
little things upon the general character of the children was 
excellent, and their utility can not be overrated. 

Most teachers are afraid to speak to their pupils about 
many things which really need correction. Once in a while, 
I made general remarks upon such subjects as the biting of 
finger-nails, the picking of the nose, scratching of the head, 
&c., &c. ; and although I singled out no one, I believe that 
many singled out themselves, and corrected their offensive 
habits. No one, who knows me, will accuse me of being a 
precisia?i in tnese matters of neatness, and yet there are few 
things at which I have been so often offended as at the neg- 
lect of neatness that so extensively prevails, especially in old, 
ill-looking school-rooms. 

There can be no doubt of the fact, that the better a school- 
room is, the better it is treated by the children ; and the 
larger it is, the more easily it is kept in order, and the more 
easily the children are governed. Much allowance must be 
made for teachers who are condemned to teach in small, ill- 
furnished rooms, and no teacher, who values his reputation 
and his health, should ever put them in such peril. I know 
of few things more offensive than the atmosphere of some 
small district schools that I have visited. It requires some 
courage in a committee-man to enter such a room, and some 
minutes to get reconciled to breathing such impurities; and 
yet hundreds go through this disagreeable transition, and de- 
part wondering how any body can live in such a medium. 
The ventilation of school-rooms will not be attended to, till 
committees and teachers are made to realize, that to breathe 
impure air is not less injurious than to drink dirty water, and 
ought not to be considered less loathsome ; the lungs, which 
drink the air, being more delicate than the stomach, and mac- 
cessible to medicine. 



227 



THE OPENING AND CLOSING OF SCHOOL. 

While at the Institutes, I was frequently questioned as to 
the best method of opening and closing a school. The daily 
opening is here intended, and not the commencement of the 
term, which should begin with a thorough classification and 
record of the children in every branch, whether the branches 
are kept separate or not. Of this classification I have spoken 
under the head of Monitorial Instruction, and it only remains 
to show how I should open the school from day to day. I 
have already alluded to the simultaneous reading of the 
Scriptures, an exercise into which I was led after various ex- 
periments. I have said that I preferred a selection of passages 
to the reading of the Bible in course, not because one portion 
of Scripture is of higher authority, or more obligatory upon 
us, than another, but because some portions are better under- 
stood by children, and are more interesting to them. The 
Board of Education have uniformly recommended the use of 
the whole Bible ; but when the vv^hole Bible is used, selections 
only are read, and surely a selection made with care and judg- 
ment is preferable to one made in haste. I prefer reading in 
concert, for reasons given under the head of Reading ; and I 
am glad to learn that many teachers, who practised with me at 
the Institutes, have adopted my plan, with profit to themselves 
and to their pupils. 

Before reading a portion of Scripture, which exercise 
should not average more than five minutes, it is desirable to 
have a hymn sung by the children. I am no singer, but I 
never found any difficulty in obtaining a choir for this exer- 
cise. The pupils of my second school were instructed by a 
professional singer, and, knowing which could lead, I had 
only to propose the hymn, and they would take care of the 
rest. As it was desirable that all should sing, I confined the 
tunes to a small number, and rarely sung new tunes until old 
ones were familiar to all. Every school has some child in it 
that can lead in this exercise, and in every district the 
teacher can find some person who would occasionally teach 
the children a new tune. No one needs to despair of doing 
this himself, if he is earnest in his desire to learuo 



228 THE teachers' institute. 

Besides a hymn, and the reading of Scripture, some com- 
mittees require that prayer should be offered. This exercise 
is more difficult than the others, and it is rarely performed so 
as to engage the attention of children. I am satisfied that, 
unless the teacher is a prayerful man, accustomed to commune 
with his Maker, and able, moreover, to express his thoughts 
with simplicity, and to condense all he should say into a few 
words, he had better not attempt to pray in school. Children 
dislike long prayers ; they disregard cold ones, and they are 
not benefited by those they do not understand. The method 
which appeared to me best to command attention, was that of 
re<]uiring the whole school to repeat my words. Sometimes 
I wrote a form for every day in the week, and continued the 
course for several weeks. Sometimes I tried extempore 
prayer, and required the whole to join ; and sometimes I 
prayed alone. This change of form procured attention, and 
as the prayer was always short, not exceeding one or two 
minutes, it was not irksome, to say the least. It requires 
about half a minute to repeat the Lord's Prayer distinctly, and 
the teacher should be contented with four times that space at 
the most. He should confine his petition to such matters as 
concern the children, and relate to their wants at the moment. 
If he wanders beyond this limit, he will be more likely to 
induce the children to hate the exercise than to join in it. 

As it has always been a leading object with the Board of 
Education to encourage the reading of the Scriptures in our 
common schools, to inculcate reverence for God and all sacred 
things, and in every way to impress upon the minds of the 
young that piety towards God which is the only security for 
their fidelity in every social relation, I felt it my duty, at the 
various Institutes, often to call the attention of teachers to the 
importance of religious instruction, and to urge upon them 
the duty and necessity of personal holiness, that they may 
feel the responsibility that rests upon them, and be enabled 
heartily to undertake the work of educating the affections and 
the consciences of their pupils. It is a pity that school-commit- 
tees, in their examination of teachers, pay so little regard to 
their religious character, and in their examination of schools, 
make few or no inquiries afler the moral and religious progress 
of the pupils. I hope I shall not be misunderstood ; I do not 
wish the committee to pry into the peculiar doctrinal belief 
of a candidate, but I do think they should be certain that he 
is a man fearing God and loving his fellow-creatures, and, 



OPENING AND CLOSING OF SCHOOL. 229 

with a deep sense of his obligation to God and man, endeav- 
oring to make every child under his care, as far as his agency 
is concerned, a child of heaven. This part of the teacher's 
character is far more important than his attainments in any 
science ; and while calling the attention of committees to this 
subject, the author feels bound to testify to the fact, that, in 
all his intercourse with the teachers at the Institutes, he never 
saw any action, or heard any expression, that would lead him 
to doubt their strong sense of religious obligation. All he 
would urge, then, is more earnestness, more activity, more 
interest in the present and eternal welfare of their pupils. 

The author has already prepared suitable selections from 
the Scriptures, which teachers can use as he has printed them, 
or as a guide in making their selections, if the whole Bible is 
preferred. He hopes to be excused if he also gives a few 
forms of prayer, and a few hymns suitable to be used at the 
opening of school. The prayers are broken into lines of suit 
able length to be repeated by the pupils, if that method is 
adopted ; or they may be used by the teacher alone, or by the 
pupils and teacher at the same time, or even by the pupils 
alone, under a monitor. I never heard more solemn prayers 
than have been offered in this latter way. 

The teacher, in this exercise of prayer, may often find a 
good opportunity to explain its nature and obligation ; and, if 
he thinks as I do, he will see that it is always performed with 
solemnity and reverence. It is to be hoped that the custom, 
which was unknown to our fathers, of sitting while in the act 
of addressing the Lord of Heaven and Earth, will never pre- 
vail in our schools. The most reverent position should be 
preferred, and if, as is generally the case, it is impossible to 
kneel, the petitioners should stand. Nothing seems to me 
more inconsistent, also, than for the preacher or leader in the 
prayer to stand while the audience sit ; and nothing seems so 
distinctly to imply that the audience are only listeners to the 
performance of another. We should not dare to sit while 
addressing an earthly king, and how shall we be less respect- 
ful to the great King of kings ? 

PRAYER FOR MONDAY MORNING. 

We thank thee, Lord of the Sabbath, 
For its holy rest, and heavenly influence. 
We thank thee for preserving us from harm, 
And bringing us again together in safety. 
20 



230 THE teachers' institute. 

Bless us all in our various exercises; 

May the spirit of wisdom guide our teacher, 

And may we be obedient to his commands. 

Forgive the sins and follies of our youth, 

And oiake us truly penitent for them. 

Bless our parents and benefactors, 

And teach us to forgive our enemies. 

Guard us from the dangers that surround us. 

And keep us from the evil that is in the world ; 

From lying, deceit and profaneness ; 

From impure words, and thoughts, and actions ; 

From disregard of holy things. 

And from forge tfulness of thee, our Maker. 

And the praise shall be thine forever, 

Through thy beloved Son, our Lord. 

Amen. 

If it be thought advisable to have a prayer at the close of 
school in the afternoon, let the Lord's Prayer be repeated by 
the children together, standing, and then let them sing the 
closing hymn. I have broken the prayers into lines, that they 
may be repeated in unison. A pleasing variation may be 
made by chanting the Lord's Prayer, as directed in the Amer- 
ican School Song Book, page 157. 

Our Father, which art in heaven, 

Hallowed be thy name. 

Thy kingdom come ; 

Thy will be done on earth, 

As it is done in heaven. 

Give us, this day, our daily bread, 

And forgive us our trespasses, 

As we forgive those who trespass against us. 

And lead us not into temptation. 

But deliver us from evil ; 

For thine is the kingdom, 

The power, and the glory, 

Forever, — Amen. 

TUESDAY. 

Our Father, who art in heaven, 

We have again risen together. 

To thank Thee for preserving our lives, 

And giving us strength to worship Thee. 



OPENING AND CLOSING OF SCHOOL. 231 

We humbly ask Thee to meet with us, 

And to fill us with thy Holy Spirit, 

That whatever we may now do 

May be done in thy fear and love, 

And be followed by thy blessing. 

Give to the pupils, attentive minds, 

And obedient and thankful hearts. 

Give to the teachers, a deep sense 

Of their responsibility to Thee, 

And crown their labors with success. 

Teach us all the value of time, 

The certainty of death and judgment; 

And enable us so to live, 

That we may not fail of thy grace 

Revealed to us in the gospel of thy Son. 

Amen. 

WEDNESDAY. 

Our Maker and our Preserver, 

We thank Thee for thy protecting care, 

And for all the blessings we enjoy. 

Give us hearts sensible to thy goodness, 

And obedient to thy commandments. 

Forgive our many transgressions. 

And teach us to forgive those who offend us* 

Enable us to learn thy holy will, 

And strengthen all our good resolutions. 

Help us to remember Thee in our youth. 

Before those evil days draw nigh. 

Which have no pleasure and no hope in them. 

Bless our parents and friends, 

And save them and us, 

Through faith in thy beloved Son. 

Amen. 

THURSDAY. 

O Thou, who seest our hearts, 

And knowest all our thoughts, 

We beseech Thee to be with us, and bless us. 

Make us willing to receive instruction. 

And fearful to offend against our God. 

May what we shall learn here 

Help us onward, by thy blessing. 



232 THE teachers' institute. 

Towards that world of peace and love, 
Where we shall see Thee as thou art, 
And no longer offend Thee as we do. 
God of mercy ! forgive our sins ; 
God of love ! keep us from evil, 
Through Jesus Christ, our Saviour. 

Amen. 

FRIDAY. 

Our heavenly Father, and our Friend, 

Now that we have risen to worship Thee, 

May we feel how solemn is the service, 

And may we perform it with reverence. 

Fill our hearts with that fear of Thee 

Which is the beginning of wisdom, 

That we may early learn to love Thee, 

And may always dread thy displeasure. 

Give us confidence in thy providence. 

And cheerful submission to thy will. 

That, like the young Redeemer, 

We may grow in wisdom as in stature, 

And in favor wuth God and man. 

Bless our parents, and all who watch over us ; 

Bless all the exercises of the school ; 

May we not offend in thought or word or action, 

And thus may we become heirs of that hope 

Which came by Jesus Christ, our Lord. 

Amen. 

SATURDAY. 

O thou Giver of every good gift, 

We pray that thy most Holy Spirit 

May fill our hearts, and form our lives. 

Grant that these, our imperfect lessons. 

May be given in thy fear, and in thy love, 

And be blessed to the eternal good 

Of those who give and those who receive them. 

Watch over us, and guard us from danger. 

And keep us away from temptation ; 

That, whether we live to grow up. 

Or fall like the early flowers, 

We may go to those mansions in heaven 

Which Jesus has gone to prepare 



OPENING AND CLOSING OF SCHOOL. 233 

For those who truly love and obey him. 
And thine shall be the glory, forever. 

Amen 



PRAYER AFTER THE DEATH OF A PUPIL OR FRIEND. 

Eternal Father, 

Who livest forever, though thy creatures die, 

We acknowledge thy providence, 

And submit without a murmur to thy will. 

We thank Thee that we have been spared, 

Whilst others have gone down to the grave, 

And we implore Thee still to spare us. 

May the death we mourn make us thoughtful, 

And may we, who live, lay it deeply to heart 

May the uncertainty of our lives 

Induce us to be dutiful and diligent, 

That we may not die unprepared. 

And when we have lived in thy fear. 

And done all thy will, on earth, 

May we be accepted by Thee, 

Through that mercy revealed by Him 

Who died that we sinners might live. 

And to Thee we will ascribe the praise 

Forever. 

Amen. 
20* 



234 THE teachers' institute. 

HYMNS. 

MONDAY MORNING. 
(Tune, Brattle Street, or Hymn Second.) 

While Thee I seek, protecting Power, 
Be my vain wishes stilled ; 

And may this consecrated hour 
With better hopes be filled. 

Thy love the power of thought bestowed, 
To Thee my thoughts would soar ; 

Thy mercy o'er my life has flowed, 
That mercy I adore. 

In each event of life, how clear 

Thy ruling hand I see ! 
Each blessing to my soul more dear, 

Because conferred by Thee. 

In every joy that crowns my days, 

In every pain I bear, 
My heart shall find delight in praise, 

Or seek relief in prayer. 

EVENING. 
(Tune, Hebron.) 
Thus far the Lord has led me on, 

Thus far his power prolongs my days. 
And every evening shall make known 
Some fresh memorial of his grace. 

Much of my time has run to waste, 
And I forget my Father's home ; 

May He forgive my follies past. 

And lend me strength for days to come. 



TUESDAY MORNING. 

(Tune, Hamburg.) 

O God, I thank Thee that the night 

In peace and rest hath passed away. 
And that I see, in this fair light, 

My Father's smile, that makes it day. 



THE OPENING AND CLOSING OF SCHOOL. 235 

Be thou my guide, and let me live 

As under thine all-seeing eye ; 
Supply my wants, my sins forgive, 

And make me happy when I die. 

EVENING. 
(Tune, Lanesborough.) 

And now another day is gone, 

I '11 sing my Maker's praise ; 
My comforts every hour make known 

His providence and grace. 

And till the night of death draws near 

O, leave me not alone, 
But make my path of duty clear 

Through thy beloved Son. 



WEDNESDAY MORNING. 
(From The American School Song Book, page 123.) 
The eastern hills are glowing 

With morning's purple ray, 
Arrayed in light he 's coming, 

The glorious orb of day. 
All hail, thou constant emblem 

Of Him who dwells above! 
Of Him so great and glorious, 

And yet so full of love. 

How nature now rejoices. 

With life and beauty new ; 
And every grass-blade twinkles 

With pearly drops of dew. 
How good is He who made thee, 

Thou glorious orb of day ! 
With grateful hearts we '11 praise Him, 

In morning's earliest ray. 

EVENING. 
(American School Song Book, page 146.) 

Softly now the light of day 
Fades upon our sight away ; 

Free from care, from labor free, 
Lord, we would look up to Thee. 



236 THE teachers' institute. 

When, for us, the light of day- 
Shall forever pass away. 

Then, from sin and sorrow free. 
Take us, Lord, to dwell with Thee. 



THURSDAY MORNING. 
(Tune, Bonny Doon. American School Song Book, page 142.) 

While nature welcomes in the day, 
My heart its earliest vows would pay 
To Him whose care hath kindly kept 
My life from danger while I slept. 
O, may each day my heart improve, 
Increase my faith, my hope, my love ; 
And may its shades around me close 
More wise and holy than I rose. 

EVENING. 
(A. S. Song Book, p. 64.) 

For a season called to part, 

Let us now ourselves commend 

To the gracious eye and heart 
Of our ever-present Friend. 

Father, hear our humble prayer, 
And when we retire to sleep, 

Let thy mercy and thy care 
All our souls in safety keep. 

What we each have now been taught, 

If of God, may we retain ; 
May we, in thy love, be brought 

Here to meet in peace again. 



FRIDAY MORNING. 
(Tune, Naomi.) 

Our Father, who in heaven art, 
Thy name all hallowed be ; 

Thy kingdom come within my heart 
Thy will be done by me. 



THE OPENING AND CLOSING OF SCHOOL. 237 

Give me to-day the food I need, 

And all my sins forgive, 
As I forgive, in tiiought and deed, 

The injuries I receive. 
And in temptation's dreadful hour, 

From evil keep me free. 
For thine 's the kingdom, glory, power, 

Throughout eternity. 

EVENING. 
(Tune, Araby's Daughter. — A. S. S. Book, pp. 82, 149.) 

Let us love one another, — not long may we stay 
In this bleak world of miourning, so brief is life's day ; 
Some fade ere 't is noon, and few linger till eve. 
And there sinks not a sun but leaves some one to grieve. 
E'en the fondest, the purest, the truest that met. 
Have still found the need to forgive and forget ; 
Then O, since we know not how brief is our day, 
Let us love one another as long as we stay. 



SATURDAY MORNING. 
(A. S. S. Book, p. 128.) 

How happy is the child who hears 
Instruction's warning voice. 

And who celestial wisdom makes 
His early, only choice. 

She guides the young with innocence 
In pleasure's path to tread ; 

A crown of glory she bestows 
Upon the aged head. 

According as her labors rise. 

So her rewards increase ; 
Her ways are ways of pleasantness. 

And all her paths are peace. 

EVENING. 
(Tune, Sicily.) 

Praise to thee, thou great Creator ! 

Praise to thee from every tongue ; 
Join my soul with every creature, 

Join the universal song. 



238 THE teachers' institute. 

For ten thousand blessings given, 

For the hope of future joy, 
Sound his praise through earth and heaven, 

Sound Jehovah's praise on high. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 
(Old Hundred.) 

Be thou, O God, exahed high, 
And as thy glory fills the sky, 
So let It be on earth displayed, 
Till thou art here as there obeyed. 

(Old Hundred.) 

From all who dwell below the skies, 
Let the Creator's praise arise, 
Let the Redeemer's name be sung 
Through every land, by every tongue. 

Eternal are thy mercies, Lord ; 

Eternal truth attends thy word ; 

Thy praise shall sound from shore to shore, 

Till suns shall rise and set no more. 

(Tune, Shirland.) 

Thy name. Almighty Lord, 

Shall sound through distant lands ; 

Great is thy grace, and sure thy word, 
Thy truth forever stands. 

Far be thine honor spread. 

And long thy praise endure. 
Till morning light and evening shade 

Shall be exchanged no more. 

[The author does not pretend that there is any particular 
merit in these forms of prayer, or any remarkable beauty in 
the hymns; and he would be rejoiced to learn that no such 
guides are needed by any young teacher.] 

It is not uncommon for children to enter school in confusion 
and to depart with noise. I have even known them, when 
dismissed, to shout and howl in the school-room, and even to 
jump over the forms, in their eagerness to gain the door. 
The good teacher will see that his children enter and leave 



THE OPENING AND CLOSING OF SCHOOL. 239 

school in silence, and in order. Any rudeness should be 
checked ; and a monitor should be placed over the garments, 
and at the door, to see that all is done according to the regula- 
tions of the school. If the school consists of both sexes, and 
they go out by the same door, the girls and boys should be 
alternately dismissed first, and the desire to see which can 
behave best will often produce most orderly behavior. If the 
pupils are playing around the schoolhouse, before school or 
in recess, at the sound of a bell, or at some other signal given, 
let them instantly form a line in some place appointed by the 
teacher, and let them enter in the order best adapted to taking 
their several seats. There would be no objection to their 
singing the multiplication table, or some suitable song, while 
entering, but they should sing till all are seated and a signal 
given to stop. If possible, — and it should always be possible, 
— the sexes should have different yards and different con- 
veniences, even when they take recess at different times. 
Playing in the road is a bad practice, especially if the children 
are unruly and disrespectful to travellers. The credit of the 
town as well as that of the teacher is involved in any indeco- 
rum of this sort, and when it can be so easily prevented by 
the aid of a monitor or two, the teacher who allows it is with- 
out excuse. 

I remember the time when it was the rule for children to 
stop playing, if a traveller was passing, and salute him with a 
respectful bow or courtesy, and I regret that this custom has 
become so unfashionable. When I pass the pupils of a village 
school, I generally test their manners by bowing first, and I 
am sorry to say that I rarely get any civil return. I know it 
is objected by some, that the teacher's jurisdiction over his 
pupils is confined to the school-room, and he is not accountable 
for their conduct beyond its walls. But this is a great mistake ; 
the true teacher will endeavor to follow his pupils wherever 
they go. He will, in school, give them advice and direction 
in regard to their behavior in the road, at home, at church, in 
lecture-rooms, and everywhere else ; and, if he is what he 
ought to be, his pupils will be distinguished for their good 
conduct ; his school will have the credit of it, and the jurisdic- 
tion of the teacher will rarely, if ever, be called in question. 

My pupils, for years, Avere all females, and my external 
regulations were, of course, adapted to their sex. They knew 
that it was contrary to my rules for them to talk or laugh loud 
in the street, to gaze at a deformed person, or to stop when 



240 THE teachers' institute. 

there was any gathering of idlers around a drunken man; 
they knew that any irreverent conduct in church, or any play 
or whispering at lyceum lectures or other meetings, would 
meet with my disapprobation, and the consequence was that 
I could send my whole school to such meetings with perfect 
confidence that their behavior would do honor to the school. 
One winter, the lecture that I was giving to the pupils and 
their families was disturbed by the boys, who accompanied 
their sisters. I stopped at once, as every lecturer should do, 
and told the audience what my rule was, and declared that if 
I was again interrupted, no boy should be admitted again. 
The fault was repeated, and the boys were all excluded. 
After much intercession, my pupils became sureties for the 
good behavior of their brothers, and they were admitted, and 
I was never troubled again, although I gave a course of lectures 
every winter for twenty years. If I heard of the misconduct 
of a pupil anywhere, even at home, I took the liberty to let 
her know that I had heard of it, and as I had a perfect 
understanding with many parents, the pupils were often 
amazed at the secrets I revealed to them. The teacher, by 
law, has a right, and is under obligation, to watch over his 
pupils, when not under the immediate eye of their parents ; 
and he may exercise this right, and fulfil this important obliga- 
tion, without any difficulty, if he is discreet, and evidently 
shows that he has the good of his charge at heart. A teacher 
who is circumspect in his own conduct, and who is anxious 
for the welfare of his pupils, may be sure, I think, of the cheer- 
ful cooperation of parents and committee-men ; and the more 
this kind of influence is exerted, the less employment will 
there be for the police, the less need of prisons for juvenile 
delinquents. 

But, say some of the teachers, we have little or no inter- 
course with the parents, and no opportunity to cooperate with 
them. This shows a want of care and tact on the part of a 
teacher. It is not difficult to communicate with the parents 
through the pupils, if the teacher cannot visit them all; but if 
his mind is well informed, and his manners agreeable and 
refined, he will usually be a welcome visitor ; and if he is 
faithful to the children, they will prepare the way for his 
reception at their homes. When I was a teacher, I contrived 
often to attract the parents and families of my pupils to the 
school-room, by preparing lectures or other entertainments in 
which they took an interest. In this way, I had constant 



THE OPENING AND CLOSING OF SCHOOL. 241 

intercourse with the parents, and the best opportunities to 
explain to them my modes of instruction and discipline. 
This was productive of another important benefit, my own 
improvement ; for no man can get up as many courses of use- 
ful lectui^es as I did, without much study and much activity. 
Self-culture and constant progress is every thing to the teacher, 
and yet how few feel its importance ! 

Many inquiries of the young teachers that I met at the 
Institutes, convinced me that this neglect of the means of self 
improvement prevails to an alarming degree. Secluded as 
most district teachers are, it is impossible for them to become 
acquainted with the improved methods of instruction that are 
every day published, unless they read such works as are 
calculated to impart this information. Let me illustrate this 
remark by one or two examples. The Common School 
Journal has been published for eight years by the Secre- 
tary of the Board of Education. All the laws of the state 
relating to education ; all the Reports of the Board, and all 
those of their Secretary, which are acknowledged to be 
unequalled by any similar papers in the world ; many Reports 
of school-committees, and countless essays by the first teachers 
in the land on subjects pertaining to practical teaching, — to 
physical, intellectual and religious instruction, — these and 
similar materials fill the volumes, and render the Journal 
absolutely essential to the Massachusetts teacher, if not to all 
teachers ; and yet, not one in fifty of the teachers of Massa- 
chusetts takes this Journal, or any other work on education ! 
Not one teacher in fifty has any library that deserves the 
name, and how can he know what it is to study, in the true 
sense of the word ? It will not do to say, that, if teachers do 
not subscribe for the Journal, they read the copy taken by 
their employers or neighbors ; for it is a deplorable fact that 
only five school-committees in the state officially take the 
Journal, and of the 309 towns in the state about 200 do not 
take a single copy. I know that most of the teachers plead 
inability to bear the expense of one dollar a year, but they 
should buy the Journal to get the dollar ; for the mower who 
has no scythe and feels too poor to buy one, will hardly grow 
rich. The teachers complain of low pay, but 1 think there is 
less reason than many suppose in this complaint, for the 
moment that a teacher increases the value of his services, he 
is sure to find an employer. The public will not pay him an 
advanced price until he has rendered himself worthy of it ; 
21 



242 THE teachers' institute. 

and my position enables me to say with confidence, that the 
demand for good teachers is fully equal to the supply. 

The exertions of the Secretary of the Board of Education 
have done much to raise the compensation of teachers, by rais- 
ing the teachers themselves; but I hesitate not to say, that had 
the teachers communed more with their best friend, through 
his writings, they would have stood much higher than they 
do. One or two of them have hinted to me that the Secretary 
aims too high, and shoots above them, and they would have 
him come down to their standard ; but how clear it is that 
such a course would keep them down. Our great Master 
recommends to them to take the lowest seats, but I no where 
read that when the master of the feast says to them, " Come up 
higher," they must decline the invitation, and ask him to come 
down to them. 

One other fact shows the inertness of the teachers in regard 
to the means of self-culture. There are six thousand teachers in 
the state, and yet hardly tifty of them are found at the Normal 
Schools, the greater part of the pupils at these schools being 
young persons who have never taught. I am aware that 
many young teachers may with justice urge the expense of 
hoard at these schools, — the tuition being free, — as a reason 
for not attending them ; but when, wiih ever watchful care, the 
Board of Education placed almost at their doors the Teachers' 
Institutes, how few came forward to enjoy these advantages, 
compared with the number who needed instruction, and might 
have been accommodated. 

From numerous letters received by me, and from much 
personal intercourse with the young teachers who did attend 
these important meetings, I am satisfied that, at future Insti- 
tutes, there will be less ground for this complaint. The 
members of the ten Institutes that have been held, appear to 
have gone to their fields of labor encouraged and invigorated ; 
and I know that their districts have felt the good efiects of the 
impulse given in the short sessions of these temporary Nor- 
mal Schools. Such was the satisfaction of the Barnstable 
Convention of the Friends of Education, who in a body 
attended the Institute at Harwich, and such their wonder that 
so few teachers attended, that they appointed two members 
of the Convention for each town of the county, to inform the 
teachers of the objects of the Institute, and to urge them by all 
means to attend the next that may be held in their vicinity. 
When their employers have to do this, it is high time for the 
teachers themselves to be moving;. 



243 



MUSIC. 

I HAVE already alluded to the utility of music as a religious 
exercise ; and, although I have never attempted by example to 
teach this pleasing science, I may be excused for saying a 
few words in its favor as a branch of popular education. I 
think mine was the first school in which vocal music was 
regularly taught, after Mr. Mason, by a private experiment, 
had shown the practicability, as well as the utility, of the 
exercise. He was regularly employed in my school as long 
as the school was continued, and perhaps the success of his 
labors with my pupils, as much as any circumstance, gave 
that impulse to the science which has now made it a more 
general exercise than geography or grammar was half a 
century ago. 

The observation of many years has satisfied me that children 
can be taught to sing as well, and as easily, as they can be 
taught to read. I do not mean to say that every child in a 
large school can be taught to sing equally well, for they can 
not be taught any study with this result ; but I do mean to 
say, that enough of music may be taught to every child to 
afford him pleasure, and to assist the teacher in the general 
discipline of the school. Nor do I mean that every teacher 
can succeed equally well in learning and teaching his pupils 
to sing ; but I do mean that every teacher may acquire some 
skill in music, and, by the aid of his more gifted pupils, he 
may make the exercise of singing extremely useful and agree- 
able to his pupils. The time has not yet come, but is fast 
approaching, when a competent knowledge of music will be 
considered an indispensable qualification in a district school 
teacher. In many towns, preference is already given, other 
things being equal, to one who can sing, and in many places 
a teacher who can not sing can not get employment. The 
effect of this preference has been, that hundreds who never 
imagined it among the number of possible things that they 
could sing, have corrected their mistake without much effort, 
and have acknowledged the additional power they thus 
acquired over the morals, the discipline, and the happiness of 
their pupils. 



244 THE teachers' institute. 

The power of imitation is so great that the youthful voice 
will remember sounds almost as easily as words. Much is 
said of the importance of teaching what is taught of music 
scientifically, and I know of but one professional teacher who 
has proceeded upon what I think the more easy as well as the 
more natural plan.^ All children learn to talk before they 
learn to read ; and singing by rote is to the reading of music 
what talking is to the reading of books. Many children learn 
to sing before they learn to read books, and shall such be pre- 
cluded from exercising their sweet voices in harmony with 
those around them ? 

The main object of introducing music into schools may be 
attained as well by teaching children to sing by the ear as 
by a more scientific method ; and why should a whole season 
be spent in acquiring this power, when it may be attained in 
a few days? I have seen the teacher to whom I have just 
alluded, go into a school where singing had never been 
attempted, and teach the majority of the pupils to sing several 
tunes in one hour. I have known him even to collect the 
children of a town in whose schools music never had been 
taught, and, in three or four lessons, prepare hundreds of 
them for a concert at which the parents and the citizens were 
delighted to attend. His plan was to select some simple 
melody, such as was, perhaps, familiar to the ear, unite it 
with some interesting words, and then sing it over several 
limes with the children. Sometimes he sang a line at a time, 
the children repeating it after him, till the tune was finished; 
and then he would sing the whole tune with them, till they 
could sing it alone. As the model was good, the imitation 
had few faults, and the result confirmed me in my good 
opinion of that simultaneous exercise of reading after the 
teacher, which I have recommended under the head of 
Reading. 

The style of the music should be adapted to the age, taste 
and acquirements, of the pupils. The infant or primary 
school should have simple music, easy of performance, and 
adapted to words of an infantile character. If exercises of the 
hands or feet, marching or other movements of the limbs, can 
be united with the music, so much the better. Such exercises 
are given in the Primary School Song Book, at pages 9 and 

* Mr. Asa Pitz, the author of the American School Song Book, the Primary 
School Song Book, &c., whose books, I believe, are constructed on this plan, 
the science coming last. 



MUSIC. 245 

26 ; and any one who has seen the animation that these put 
into a school, will hardly be willing to substitute for them a 
a lesson of Time or Rhythm chalked upon the black-board, 
important as it is that such lessons be given at a future day. 

The great secret of good order and discipline in school is 
full employment; and music enables the teacher to fill up 
even those moments which come between the regular recita- 
tions and are usually lost. Many good teachers practise 
music between every exercise. When the classes go out to 
recite, or when they return to their seats, a short song, or 
perhaps a single stanza, is sung. The multiplication table, as 
set to music by Mr. Fitz, is a favorite marching tune ; and, 
besides the order which is thus introduced into the movements 
of the classes, much rwise is covered up, and the children's 
tongues, being pleasantly engaged, are not employed in 
whispering and forbidden talk. 

For the higher schools, music adapted- to poetry of a higher 
order should be sung. It is the great fault of most school 
singing-books that the words are often so simple as to be 
silly. As the words thus committed to memory are usually 
retained while life lasts, they should be worthy of being thus 
retained. As far as my observation goes, children over eight 
years of age care very little for the sentimental babyisms 
that aduhs are so apt to think peculiarly adapted to them. 
I know no book which contains so many unexceptionable 
songs and hymns, and so great a variety of pleasing 
tunes, as the American School Song Book, to which I have 
before referred. 

The amount of time which should be devoted to music 
must depend upon circumstances. If a hymn is sung at the 
beginning and end of school, and if the change of recitations 
is accompanied with a short tune, much exercise will be 
attained. A short tune immediately after recess often tran- 
quillizes the spirits of the pupils, and prepares them for quiet 
labor after active recreation. All this may be done by rote, 
but if the teacher understands the science of music, he may 
have his regular time for instruction in this department, as in 
any other. 

The sooner teachers take hold of this matter the better ; for 
it is futile to expect the districts to employ a professional 
musician, as has been done in Boston, and one or two other 
large places. It would be easy for a town to employ some 
qualified citizen, the leader of the village choir, perhaps, to go 
21=^ 



246 THE teachers' institute. 

from school to school once or twice a week, until the teachers 
felt competent to do without such assistance ; but few, if any, 
towns will do this, and the teachers must act without regard 
to any such expectation. 

In no one branch have I seen the necessity and utility of 
monitorial instruction so well illustrated as in music. I have 
known regular exercises to be given by a teacher who did not 
sing a word himself, but who operated by the agency of his 
better pupils. But monitors are more useful in another way. 
If the school is large, all the children usually form but one class, 
and practise together. Whether singing by rote or by rule, 
it will soon appear that some are far in advance of the rest, 
anxious to advance faster than others are prepared to go, and 
uneasy if they are detained, while what is familiar to them is 
explained, over and over again, to those less apt to learn. 
The teacher may, perhaps, form the class into two divisions, 
and give to each division half of the time before allotted to the 
whole ; but the same evil will soon recur, if the school is 
large, and a further subdivision will soon be necessary, if 
justice is done to all. Now, I but describe my own experience 
when I say, that the very dullest singers will often learn 
faster under a good monitor than under the teacher, because 
they will feel more at ease, and will get more actual practice. 
The monitor, too, will be improved ; and when the weather 
is pleasant, and a class idle, the monitor can take them into 
the open air, and thus reduce the number of those who are, 
perhaps, breathing over for the tenth time the atmosphere of 
the confined school-room. 

It is remarkable how very generally the notion has pre- 
vailed, that few can learn how to sing; and yet, perhaps, no 
person can be found who does not amuse himself sometimes 
by singing or humming a tune, while not one mother in a 
hundred, who sings her infant to sleep, could tell a semi- 
breve from a demi-semi-quaver. Once, the eminent gentle- 
man with whom I had the pleasure to cooperate for so many 
years in my school, told me that he had only met with or.e 
pupil that he thought he could not teach. She had taken 
lessons with the class for three or four years, but made no 
progress, and never was in time or harmony with the rest. 
I afterwards called that scholar to me, and asked her if she 
loved to sing. She said, "Yes, indeed." "Do you find 
any difficulty in keeping time and according with the rest ? " 
"Not at all," said she; "it comes perfectly easy to me." 



MUSIC. 347 

" And you love to sing?" said I. " Yes, I do, dearly," said 
she. This singular instance shows that no great degree of 
natural ability or skill is necessary to enable one to take 
pleasure in music, while it shows how very rare it is to find 
a pupil unable to profit by instruction. 

A case more encouraging to teachers happened at one of 
the Institutes. After I had made some remarks on the almost 
necessity of a teacher's being able to sing, I saw one of the 
young female teachers in tears. On inquiring the cause of 
her grief, she told me that she had long been endeavoring to 
qualify herself to be a teacher, and thought she had made 
some progress ; but a teacher of music had told her she never 
could learn to sing, and I had just told her that singing was 
essential to her success, and she was now completely dis- 
couraged. I asked her to read to me, and finding that she 
had a good voice, and knew how to modulate it, I told her she 
might rely upon it that she could learn to sing. I then told 
her case to the teacher of music who accompanied me to that 
Institute, and in less than twenty-four hours, she was singing 
with the rest, and evidently taking pleasure in what so lately 
had caused her to despair. 



248 



EMULATION AND DISCIPLINE. 

As it is unreasonable in adults to expect from children what 
they do not find in themselves, I have never objected to the 
judicious use of rewards as a source of emulation. The ordi- 
nary method, however, of distributing a few prizes, — such, for 
instance, as the distribution of the Franklin medals in the 
Grammar Schools of Boston, — I consider fraught with evil, 
and to be avoided. Whatever rewards are given, should be 
given justly ; and the moral sense of the whole school should 
be satisfied. The reward should be more like the good gift that 
parents are said to know how to give to their children, unex- 
pected, perhaps, and unpromised; not to elevate one child 
above his fellows, but to give a tangible expression of appro- 
bation, in which all the fellow-students will rejoice. I have 
long entertained the belief that, if school-committees would 
allow the pupils themselves to designate the most worthy, the 
selection would generally be more just, as well as more satis- 
factory to all concerned. 

The first year of my pedagogical life, I adopted a plan, 
which, with trifling alteration, I continued for twenty years; 
and, as it effected all I desired in the way of emulation, and 
was never complained of in any one instance, to my knowl- 
edge, I will endeavor briefly to describe it. The basis of the 
system was, that every child should be rewarded in exact pro- 
portion to her desert, and the reward should be as small as it 
could be and have any value. To effect these two ends, I 
adopted the following method. A sort of currency, called 
merits, was established, and every exercise had its value. 
Every child knew exactly what she was entitled to in ordi- 
nary cases; and, in extraordinary cases, a fair valuation was 
made. The record of merits was in fact a class list, by which I 
could judge of the relative industry and good behavior of the 
pupils. As the allowance of an equal number of merits to 
every pupil, for a similar exercise, would have enabled the 
talented to get more than those less gifted, but equally merito- 
rious, I always exercised the right to do justice in the case. 
For instance, if one child could write two orthographical exer- 
cises while another, doing her best, could write only one, the 



EMULATION AND DISCIPLINE. 249 

reward was the same for the one as for the two. As good 
behavior was more important than good scholarship in any 
branch of study, merits were given for this. Again, as teach- 
ing was a part of the employment of every pupil, the faithful 
monitor was paid as much for teaching as she would have 
earned at any study. In fine, the aggregate of merits ob- 
tained by each for industry, good behavior, monitorship, &c., 
determined her rank on the merit roll, at the end of every 
term. Now, I am persuaded that such a merit roll, even if 
not followed up by any prizes, would enable many teachers to 
govern a school without much, if any, resort to the infliction 
of physical pain ; but I did not stop here. 

Every term, it was understood that a certain sum, called 
the merit fund, would be distributed among the pupils, in 
proportion to the number of merits each had received. Of 
coarse, the value of a merit depended upon the whole number 
obtained by all the scholars. If the fund was ten dollars, and 
the number of merits sixty thousand, sixty merits would be 
equal to one cent. When I first adopted this plan, the merits 
were so few, that ten or twelve were worth a cent ; but when 
I had taught ten years, the facility of doing every kind of 
exercise was so much greater, that it rarely took less than 70 
or 80 merits to represent a cent. This, in a pecuniary point 
of view, was next to. nothing; and yet it was sufficient to 
induce every pupil to take good care of her exercises, as well 
as to write them, and it led to a more careful attention to the 
school record. Besides these merits, v/e had also what we 
called demerits, which were given for misconduct, careless 
exercises, neglected lessons, &c. These were recorded, also, 
and, if unatoned for, were deducted from the scholar's merits 
at the end of the term. As I soon knew the character and 
capacity of every pupil, and had, moreover, the advice of my 
monitors, it was easy to do justice to every child ; and as the 
pupils knew that I aimed to be just and impartial, I never 
heard any complaint. 

At the end of the term, every child was required to bring 
up such exercises as had been written or drawn, or otherwise 
preserved, neatly filed, as vouchers for the merits she claimed. 
These exercises had all been examined by me, and the merits 
they were entitled to, awarded at the time they were corrected. 
Then all the class lists on which the lessons recited, mis- 
takes made, &c., had been recorded from day to day, were 
added up, and merits awarded. Next, the record of conduct 



250 THE teachers' institute. 

was attended to ; that of absence and tardiness, &c. Some- 
times monitors would report pupils as having made extraor- 
dinary efforts to improve ; sometimes acts of kindness, for- 
bearance, disinterestedness, &c., would be reported, inquired 
into, and rewarded : and the consequence was, that character 
became a matter of some importance, and her due rank was 
assigned to every pupil. After a little practice, all this re- 
quired but little time ; so little, indeed, that a visitor would 
hardly have noticed that any record was kept in the school. 

This was the system by which I governed about a hundred 
pupils for eighteen or twenty years, without once resorting to 
corporal punishment of any kind. If any one has fears that 
other evils, worse than physical pain, were induced by this 
course of discipline, I can only say, that I never saw any ill 
effects ; and whether I should have been likely to see or hear, 
by myself or my monitors, the reader may judge. 

The district teacher may not often find a committee ready 
and willing to make a small grant for the purpose of carrying 
out this system, and he may not feel able to appropriate a 
small sum for this purpose from his wages ; but he will do 
well to try the system without attaching any pecuniary value 
to the merits. So evident was the good effect of this system 
at school, that several parents adopted it at home, with similar 
results, in the government of their children. 

It will be observed that this is a sort of medium between 
that system of fear which brutalizes the pupil, by treating him 
as one void of understanding, and that transcendental system 
which expects him to do well from the mere love of right 
and truth and goodness. It is not a mere theory, for I have 
tested it successfully for twenty years ; it is not applicable 
only to one class of children, for I tried it with equal success 
upon the unfortunate children of my first school, and upon the 
middling and higher classes of my second. I believe it is 
fully competent, in the hands of a discreet and patient teacher, 
to maintain order and encourage industry in any district 
school, and I recommended a trial of it to the teachers at 
some of the Institutes. At all of these, the subject of corporal 
punishment was freely discussed, and I was surprised at the 
prevalence of the milder system. I had a good opportunity to 
learn the opinions and the practice of the young teachers, and 
I know I speak within bounds when I say, that half of them 
disclaimed the use of corporal punishment altogether, and all 
considered it the lowest and last resort of the teacher. 



EMULATION AND DISCIPLINE. 261 

Can it be, as some pretend, that in introducing a milder 
system of discipline, one that appeals more to the reason and 
conscience of the pupil, and less to his physical susceptibility 
to pain, we are " throwing ourselves across the Word of 
God," " treading the Bible under foot," " rejecting the inspi 
ration of the Scriptures," cftid making "infidel factories of our 
common schools ? " If I thought there was any truth in this 
charge, any tendency to this terrible result, I should be the 
Aast man to persevere in the course I have recommended. 
The charge is absurd, but it has been often and very lately 
reiterated, and it is of such moment that I hope to be pardoned 
if I say a few words in regard to it. 

All the defenders of corporal punishment have agreed in 
citing the precepts of Solomon, as the principal, if not the 
only direct command or authority, for the infliction of bodily 
pain upon children, and the passages most relied on are the 
following : 

Prov. xiii. 24. " He that spareth his rod hatetli his son; but he 
that loveth him chasteneth him betimes." 

Prov. xix. 18. "•' Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not 
Ihy soul spare for his crying." 

Prov. xxii. 15. " Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child, but 
the rod of correction shall drive it far from him." 

Prov. xxix. 15. " The rod and reproof give wisdom." 

Prov. xxiii. 13. " Withhold not correction from the child ; for if 
thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die." 

14. " Thou shall beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul 
from hell." 

The argument assumes that these precepts, and a few 
others found in the Old Testament, are the commands of 
God, and of perpetual obligation, and any attempt to lessen 
their obligation, even upon those not under the Law, is 
impiety, if not fatal heresy. One writer, in a religious paper, 
went so far as to assert, that it was the duty of every man to 
use the rod, whether his child deserved it or not. 

The milder system of discipline rests its defence upon such 
passages as the following, from the New Testament, but more 
especially upon the milder spirit that pervades the teachings 
of the Gospel. 

1 Peter iii. 8. " Be ye all of one mind, having compassion one 
of another ; love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous ; not rendering 
evil for evil, but contrariwise, blessing." 

1 Thess. V. 14. " Now we exhort you^ brethren, warn them that 



252 THE teachers' institute. 

are unruly ; comfort the feeble-minded ; support the weak ; he patient 
toward all. See that none render evil for evil unto any." 

Romans, xii. 17. "• Recompense to no man evil for evil." 19. 
*' Dearly beloved, avenge riot yourselves, but give place unto wrath ; 
for it is written, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord." 
21. "Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good." 

Matt. V. 39. Jesus says, " I say unto you that ye resist not evil." 

Matt, xviii. 21. "Peter said, Lord, how oft shall my brother 
sin against me and I forgive him, till seven times? Jesus saith unto 
him, I say not unto thee till seven times, but until seventy times 
seven." 

Luke xvii. 3. " If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him ; 
and if he repent, forgive him. And if he trespass against thee seven 
times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, 
I repent; thou shalt forgive him." 

Mark xi. 26. "If ye do not forgive, neither will your Father 
which is in heaven forgive your trespasses." 

2 Tim. i. 7. " For God hath not given us the spirit oi fear ; but 
of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." 

1 John iv. 16. " God is love." 18. " There is no fear in love." 

Ephes. iv. 15. " Speaking the truth in love." 

There is not a word in the New Testament about the literal 
use of the rod ; and the figurative prophecy of Isaiah was liter- 
ally fulfilled, when, as if contrasting the rod of the ancient 
system with that of the Gospel, he says, " There shall come 
forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse — and he shall smite the 
earth with the 7-od of his mouths 

Now I do not conceive the belief in the plenary inspiration 
of the Scriptures to be at all affected by the entire disuse of 
the rod. It seems to me that St. Paul knew the bearing of 
his words, when he said to the Hebrews, to reconcile them to 
giving up the law of Moses, " God, who at sundry times, and 
in divers manners, spake in time past unto the fathers by the 
prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, 
whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he 
made the worlds," &c. This passage conveys to my mind 
the doctrine, that God spake by the prophet Moses, and gave 
such instruction as befitted the condition of our race at that 
remote period ; that, by subsequent prophets, he gave more 
and more light, but the full revelation came not until the Son 
of God himself came among men. " The laio was given by 
Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." 

The very fact that a second revelation was made, proves 
that the former one was not complete ; but it does not prove 
that holy men did not speak as they were moved by the Holy 



EMULATION AND DISCIPLINE. 253 

Spirit. Jesus, in educating his disciples, says to them, as 
God might have said " to them of old time," " I have man)? 
things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now." Paul 
says to Timothy, when speaking of the Old Testament, " From 
a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, [of the Old 
Testament,] which are able to make thee wise unto salva- 
tion," not of themselves, " but through faith ivhich is in Christ 
Jesus.'' 

In accordance with this view, is that other declaration of 
Paul to the Galatians, iii. '23 : " Before faith came, we were 
kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should after- 
wards he revealed. V/herefore, the law was our school- 
master, to bring us unto Christ; but after that faith is come, 
we are no longer under a schoolmaster." It by no means 
follows, therefore, that, because the Gospel, " in these last 
days," spoke m.ore clearly or more mildly than the law had 
done two thousand years before, Moses was any the less 
inspired. 

The Proverbs that I have cited are attributed to Solomon, 
and if he was one of the prophets alluded to by Paul, and even 
superior to Moses in the gift of the Holy Spirit, this would 
not weaken my position ; for Jesus himself told the Jews that 
the conduct of the Queen of Sheba condemned them, for she 
went to hear only the wisdom of Solomon ; but, added he, 
" a greater than Solomon is here."" 

It seems to me that the gospel of Jesus not only revealed 
to us the true character of God, viz., that of a tender Father, 
but it revealed much in regard to the relation of parent to 
child, of man to man, and of man to God. Hence, Solomon 
tells us, what no doubt was true in his experience, that, 
" Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child, but the rod of 
correction shall drive it from him;" but our Saviour takes little 
children in his arm.s, and blesses them, and declares that " of 
such is the kingdom of heaven." Nay, he even sets one of 
the little ones up before his disciples, and tells them that 
unless they become such, they cannot enter into his kingdom. 

It would be unsafe, also, as well as unnecessary, it appears 
to me, to assume that every precept of Solomon is binding 
upon those who believe the Gospel; for the consequence 
would be terrible indeed. For instance; Solomon, alluding 
to the Law of Moses, says, Prov. xx. 20, " Whoso curseth his 
father or his mother, his lamp shall be put out in obscure 
darkne^;^." We are bound, then, to put disobedient children 
22 



254 THE teachers" institute. 

to death, if the Gospel has not taught us otherwise. We 
find no such thing under the new dispensation, but we have 
the mild precept, " Children, obey your parents," not through 
fear of being stoned to death, but for the reason given by the 
apostle, viz., " This is right," " This is well-pleasing unto 
the Lord." "The law and the prophets were" only "until 
John, and since that time, the kingdom of God is preached." 

Other precepts of Solomon and Moses, seem to me to have 
been superseded by those of Jesus and his apostles ; and; 
therefore, when Jesus says, that " One jot or one tittle shall 
in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled," I am led to 
think that all was fulfilled, when, on the cross, the Redeemer 
declared that " it was finished." 

The law of Moses evidently allowed retaliation, but if I 
understand the spirit of the Gospel, it is there expressly for- 
bidden. " Ye have heard that it hath been said, an eye for an 
eye, and a tooth for a tooth ; but I say unto you, that ye resist 
not evil." If this does not directly repeal the retaliatory 
clauses of the Mosaic law, I know not how to read. Again, 
the Jews were under the yoke of the law, and Christ says to 
them, " Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for my 
yoke is easy, and my burden is light." Here are two yokes, 
and one is to be rejected, because both cannot be worn. The 
masters are so different, that no man can serve them both. I 
will name but one other instance of many that crowd upon 
my memory. Solomon says, Eccles. iii. 19, that men die 
like the beasts. " Yea, they have all one breath,'" " so that a 
man hath no preeminence above a beast ;" and he asks, 
tauntingly, " Who knoweth that the sjnrit of man goeth 
upward, and that the spirit of the beast goeth downward to 
the earth?" Nothing shows more clearly than such a sen- 
tence, what is meant by the glorious truth, that, " Life and 
Immortality are brought to light by the Gospel." 

If I read my Bible aright, the human race has been edu- 
cated like a child, and the divers speakings of God to it have 
been adapted to its state of progress. It seems to me, that 
the question of the plenary inspiration of Moses or Solomon 
is not affected by the fact that the grace of God has revealed 
more of his will since they were inspired to speak ; but, at 
any rale, I feel bound to follow the teachings of the Saviour, in 
whom alone dwelt the fulness of the Godhead bodily. 

Is it not evident, therefore, that the " sundry times" have 
been those of Moses, of the Prophets and of Jesus Christ; 



EMULATION AND DISCIPLINE . 255 

that the " divers manners " were those of the Law, the Proph- 
ets and the Gospel ? and is it not also evident, that we must 
receive the latest revelation as we do human laws required 
by the progress of civilization and humanity, to which are 
usually appended the provision, that " all laws or portions of 
laws inconsistent with the last are, by its enaction, repealed?" 
I know it will be said, — for it has just been said by the editor 
of a new religious magazine, got up mainly to keep the rod 
in the schools, — that God, in his providence, inflicts physical 
pain, and our Saviour, once at least, made a whip and drove 
those who sold cattle from the temple. But if any one thing 
is evidently taught by our Saviour, it is, that God does not 
punish moral offences by inflicting physical pain. Even the 
ancient Scriptures assert, that sinners live and die like other 
men : " There is one event to the righteous and the wicked :" 
and who dares say that God does not send his rain on the 
unjust as well as on the just? Some physical excesses, to be 
sure, draw their punishment after them ; but the tower of 
Siloam did not fall on certain men because they were sinners 
above all others ; the man was not born blind because he or 
his parents had sinned. Those who have urged this argu- 
ment have also expressed the utmost horror at that tenet of 
onj3 portion of the Universalists, which asserts that sin carries 
its' punishment with it in this world, and, this obviates the 
necessity of a future judgment; yet this tenet is confirmed 
by that which considers physical evil as the punishment 
of moral guilt; so true is it that extremes are most apt 
to meet. In regard to the alleged violence used by our Sa- 
viour, it should "be known that the original Greek, and some 
translations, authorize no such wrong to the gentle character 
of the blessed Redeemer ; but only assert that he made a whip 
oi small cords, that is, he used small cords as a whip, to drive 
the animals, and not the men, from the temple. Even our 
translation may mean this ; but the French protestant version 
reads thus : "He drove all out of the temple, both the sheep 
and the bulls." So says the Greek, so says the Vulgate, so 
says Beza, and so would our common English version say, 
if the word them were printed in Italic type, as words gener- 
ally are that were inserted by the translators on their own 
authority, and if, as in Tindal's early and excellent version, 
the first and were rendered by hath, according to our idiom. 

Were it not so perfectly evident that the translation is at 
fault in regard to the conduct of the Prince of Peace, it seems 



256 THE teachers' institute. 

to me that the whole course of his benignant teaching, the 
whole tenor of his patient, long-suffering and unaggressive 
life, should have saved him from the charge ; and yet, to sup- 
port a practice which the spirit of the Gospel has long been 
silently repudiating, some men have been willing to affix a 
stigma to the character of Jesus entirely at variance with 
every word, and with every other act of his life. 

Those who have not been satisfied with the Scripture argu- 
ment for corporal punishment, have urged another, that would 
deserve serious consideration, if the fact on which it is based 
were true. We are told that vice and crime are on the 
increase, and that this deterioration of morals can only be ac- 
counted for by the great progress of the milder system of 
discipline within a few years. 

Now, it is by no means certain that there is any increase of 
crime beyond the natural increase of population, and the 
unusual increase of uneducated foreigners. On the contrary, 
the facts, that there has been great general improvement in all 
the schools of the state, as proved by the annual Abstracts of 
School Returns ; that every year the number of schools 
broken up by the insubordination of pupils has greatly 
diminished ; and that many hundreds, even of winter schools, 
have been taught, and easily managed, by females ; would 
indicate a great improvement in the state, even if, in one or 
two large towns, the criminal calendar may seem to have 
increased. But, were we to grant that crime has increased, it 
would not follow that the milder discipline of the schools has 
been the cause of it, unless it also follows that a more direct 
attempt to educate the conscience, the affections, and the 
higher sentiments of a child, has a tendency to reduce him 
nearer to the level of the beasts that perish. The fact is, that 
vice and crime abound most where the lenient system of dis- 
cipline complained of has never been approved, has never 
prevailed. 

It should be remembered, too, that whenever the use of the 
rod is recommended in the ancient Scriptures, it is to be in 
the hands of parents ; for there were no schools nor school- 
masters in those days. It is hardly probable that Solomon 
would have urged so strongly the exercise of the rod, had he 
not known that the natural feelings of the parent would some- 
times be averse to even reasonable chastisement. I know 
it will be objected that the teacher stands in the parent's 
place ; and so he does to a certain degree, and it is sometimes 



EMULATION AND DISCIPLINE. 257 

fortunate that he does ; but he can not have the natural affec- 
tion of a parent ; his office was unknown in the age of Solo- 
mon, and, therefore, no precept of Solomon can, with justice, be 
applied to the intercourse between teacher and pupil, which is 
the subject under consideration. 

I should not, as some do, recommend the disuse of the rod 
without allowing the free use of other motives. Of these, 
there is a choice, and the highest that will move the child 
should always be preferred. I do not allow the infliction of 
physical pain to be an intellectual motive, and, therefore, I 
never use it in the discipline of beings that have minds, and 
hearts, and consciences, and souls. If I err in this, I err on 
the side of humanity. I do not act contrary to what I con- 
sider to be the spirit of my Divine Master. I do not act, as 
some seem to think, from any perverse wish to go wrong, or 
from any disrespect to the revealed will of God. 

I hope I shall be excused for attempting, less briefly than I 
could wish, to remove the fears of those whose tenderness of 
conscience may have prevented them from cultivating tha 
tenderness of disposition which prefers long suflering, patience 
and kindness, to the free use of the rod. I have never main- 
tained that there may not be good schools where the rod is 
applied ; I have never maintained that a teacher, who did not 
know what else to do, might not resort to the rod till he was 
better informed. I am no lover of confusion, no apologist for 
disobedience, but one who believes sincerely that the fear of 
bodily pain, though producing temporary submission, rarely 
produces any change in the moral condition of the oflfender. 
I reason from my own experience when a pupil; from my 
own experience as a teacher ; from the confession of other 
teachers, who have used the rod, and of pupils who have been 
subjected to it ; I reason, in fine, from what, after much study, 
I believe to be the real instruction of the Bible on the subject ; 
and having no interest in the question, except the love of chil- 
dren, the love of teachers, and the love of truth, I trust my 
character will not suffer because I honestly express my con- 
victions. 

22* 



258 THE teachers' institute! 



THE CONCLUSION. 

I HAVE thus, in great haste, given my thoughts upon such 
points as were agitated at the Teachers' Institutes, and I can 
only hope that my book will be receive'd by the younger part 
of the profession with as much kindness and respect as was 
shown to my personal instructions. I have much more to 
say, but I fear that I have already exceeded the limits of a 
school manual. In taking leave of my young friends, I 
would, therefore, only add, that the faithful teacher, on every 
plan, has much to do and much to endure. He must be con- 
tented to labor and be ill-rewarded ; he must be willing to see 
his pupils increase while he decreases ; and even to see the 
world, whose movement he has accelerated, leaving him 
behind. No matter ; — the school of life lasts not long, and 
its best rewards are reserved till school is over. 

When Jupiter offered the prize of immortality to him who 
was most useful to mankind, the court of Olympus was 
crowded with competitors. The warrior boasted of his 
patriotism, but Jupiter thundered; — the rich man boasted of 
his munificence, and Jupiter showed him a widow's mite ; — 
the pontiff held up the keys of heaven, and Jupiter pushed the 
doors wide open; — the painter boasted of his power to give 
life to inanimate canvass, and Jupiter breathed aloud in deri- 
sion ; — the sculptor boasted of making gods that contended 
with the Immortals for human homage ; Jupiter frowned ; — 
the orator boasted of his power to sway a nation with his 
voice, and Jupiter marshalled the obedient hosts of heaven 
with a nod ; — the poet spoke of his power to move even the 
gods by praise ; Jupiter blushed ; — the musician claimed to 
practise the only human science that had been transported to 
heaven ; Jupiter hesitated, — when, seeing a venerable man 
looking with intense interest upon the group of competitors, 
but presenting no claim, — " What art thou ?" said the benig- 
nant monarch. " Only a spectator," said the gray-headed 
sage; "all these were once my pupils." '■'•Croion him 
crown him!" said Jupiter; " crown the faithful teacher with 
immortality, and make room for him at my right hand ! " 



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